serendipity
by Ali Sama
Summary: A misjump brings colonial raptor 13 to earth. This earth being the earth in uc century during the gryps conflict, also known as zeta gundam. House cleaning. rearead 1 through 6. they have been updated.
1. Disclaimer updated

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters within the this story. All characters are owned by their respective copyright holders. This story is a work of fiction and is for fun. This story is free and shall remain so. If you wish to host this story, please email me. This story may not be altered, published or used in any manner without my explicit permission.

My thanks goes to Fanboyimus Prime, Arthur Hansen, James Axelrad and finally NeoSeether who's help and continued support are the pillars of this story.

Credits for Ship designs used in the story

Alexzandyr J.

Zues Class Warstar

Gunstar

Mike Brown 

Combatstar

Glenn Wagner 

Titan class escort frigate

This is a Nu Battle Star Galactica / universal century gundam zeta era crossover

for people who are not familiar with zeta gundam go here

www. /Tokyo /Flats /8218/ index. html

for thoes who want to learn about the new class of ships go here

wolfsshipyard . mystarship . com /BSG . html

For information on the earth colonies go here

www . msgundam/ frontier.html


	2. Chapter 1 Serendipity

With a bright glow, as bright as a nova, yet as quick as the flickering of a firefly's light, a ship suddenly appeared within the void.

The two occupants, both Colonial Fleet officers, quickly attempted to gage their situation.

-

_Colonial Raptor Thirteen - Unknown Territory:_

Margaret 'Racetrack' Edmondson searched the empty space around her Raptor in sudden panic, her pulse racing she stated finally, "This doesn't look right."

Roy 'Skulls' Focker, her sole companion and junior officer, panickly replied, "No other contacts on DRADIS."

Racetrack looked at Skulls, a look of disappointment on her face quite apparent.

"What?!" pleaded Roy as sweat started beading down Skulls' forehead. He announced, "Oh hell, we're at the wrong jump coordinates."

He then quickly added, "I think there was some kind of glitch in the nav-con firmware. Bottom line, we're not anywhere near where we're supposed to be, L.T."

Taking deep breaths, Racetrack tried to relax. "Okay... uh, any chance that we can still catch up with them?" she hoped.

Skulls brought her back to reality with, "Not a chance. Mission rules say we head back." Looking at his instruments with some concern as the computer was still calibrating their position.

"Frak me! It was the first jump!" The frustrated Racetrack cursed out loud, angrily hitting the console in front of her with her fists.

"Hey, look, you're the one who gave me these coordinates," Skulls replied in defense, then looked at the red indicators on his screens.

"...frak me," he swore.

"Agreed. Back to the barn," Racetrack acknowledged their defeat.

"No, I meant frak me as in, we are screwed. We're over ten thousand light years away from where we should be, and most of the systems were just fried," which accompanied the shutting down of the displays.

"Fried? How is _that_ possible?" From her vantage point, Racetrack could see ice crystals starting to form outside the glass canopy of her Raptor, not a good sign. The only thing worse would be for a Cylon Raider to show up with a few friends.

"I have no idea. It seems as if we went through a massive EM field, though nothing like that should be able to exist in a vacuum. Look, we are stuck. Unless you got you got the replacement parts in your back pocket, sir, the only way we're moving this ship is to get out and push." Roy said with an unusual calm.

"Frak us, is _anything_ working on this piece of shit Raptor?!" Racetrack yelled.

"I think I can get the DRADIS working if I re-route a few things. On the other hand, the navigational computers for the jump engine are completely fried. The jump drive is useless now, so we can power it down. " Skulls intoned.

The look of fright on Racetrack's face was apparent as Skulls continued.

"I'd need to open a few panels to see exactly what we _can_ get operational."

"Let's get to it, then," Racetrack ordered.

"Yes, sir... it's a good thing I took a few courses in basic repair," he sighed. "I hope I didn't fall sleep through most of it," he joked.

"Not funny," scolded Racetrack.

"Sorry, sir," apologized Skulls.

Immediately, the two broke out the tool box and began to remove the grills which carpeted the Raptor's deck. A mixed blessing came with the lack of artificial gravity.

Both Focker and Edmonson swore as they continually bumped into various objects. Of course, Roy Focker slowly began to turn green as his stomach churned due to the zero gee.

"Oh gods, I think I'm gonna be sick," Skulls swore weakly.

"Take the frakking anti-nausea pills," Racetrack said. She quickly reached into her pocket and pulled out two tablets.

However, it was too late, as she heard a violent retching. She looked and saw that the inside of Focker's helmet was covered in vomit.

"Frakkin' hell, take the helmet off, I'll clean it out," Racetrack tired voice snapped.

"Sorry, sir," Skulls appologized as he took the pills. "It's getting pretty cold in here."

"That is not the way to talk, soldier! Now, tell me what happened," ordered Racetrack.

"Okay, this is weird... It's as if we passed through some kind of mis-shaped EMP field; it fried some systems, yet left others alone. It's a good thing we didn't stay in it too long. I believe I can reroute the power to the functioning stuff."

"We _might_ have limited propulsion capability, but I highly doubt that. Wireless should be good, same with life support and gravity. DRADIS is iffy, but I'm _pretty_ sure I can get it working again... I think. Partial functionality is better then none," Skulls reported.

"Don't just think so, soldier, know so. We can frakking do this," Racetrack said as she looked at the crystals forming on some of the panels; adding quietly, "I hope."

She froze in place as memories of her childhood came to her. Her father, her mother, both now dead. Her friends and families, no graves, no honor, no dignity. Cylons laughing, as they destroyed everything in an orgy of violence and bloodlust.

That was not the death she would face. She would fight, with every breath, every thought, every fiber of her soul. She prayed to the Gods, and cried. A single tear dropped from her cheeks hitting the floor, instantly frozen upon impact.

Then, a miracle happened. Her tear melted just as quickly as the lights came back on.

"Life support is back up! Next should be the DRADIS, and hopefully, the wireless," Focker announced.

"Roy, you're my frakking hero!" Racetrack said as she hugged him.

"Don't forget that when we go out for drinks... sir," Skulls said with a tired smile.

"You bet! Next round is on me," Racetrack said as she sobbed on Focker's shoulder.

"You okay, lieutenant?" he asked with a worried tone.

"...yeah..." Racetrack quietly replied.

Skulls resumed connecting wires, hoping that everything would work, and not blow up on them when he turned on the switch.

"We need to get some more wiring; I think we can rip some out from the door mechanism."

-

_Colonial Raptor Thirteen - Several Hours Later_

"I can't believe that we got most of this stuff working. It won't last long, but it _will_ work," Skulls assured.

"I'm picking up two large planetary bodies. They're frakkin' close," he continued.

"Where'd _that_ come from?" Racetrack was puzzled, at least they where within a star system.

Hopefully within wireless range of someone.

"Hell, if I know. Too many DRADIS interference sources here, they're barely registering..." Roy said.

"...oh my gods..."

"Spill it!" Racetrack exclaimed.

"There _is_ a moon and a primary planet. Atmosphere is nitrogen/oxygen based. Organic molecular spectra. Fresh water? Hey, you know what this means? It's habitable! We may have just found a world that can support human life... but it's also occupied." Skulls stated.

"Occupied? By whom?" inquired the now puzzled Racetrack.

"That's not all, there appears to be multiple space habitats orbiting the planet's Liberation points, also inhabited. Thousands of them. Those things are frakking huge too, six point four kilometers in diameter and thirty two kilometers in length, for the smaller ones. Frak, they have thirty six and forty kilometer ones as well. Whoever is s building these things sure likes to think big."

Roy looked at the Dradis screen, "Oh frak, incoming contact, two hundred clicks away!"

"See if we can establish contact... hopefully, the wireless works," Racktrack muttered.

"Open a channel."

A few clicks later, Roy said, "Yes sir, channel open. We're on."

"This is Lieutenant Margaret Edmondson, callsign 'Racetrack', on-board Colonial Raptor Thirteen. We've had a jump error and ended up in your solar system."

"Our navigational computers are fried, our life support systems, wireless, and other vitals are barely holding. We need help, and hold no hostile intentions towards you. We come in peace, over." Racktrack pleaded.

"Repeat that on as many frequencies as you can," she ordered.

She looked out the window, and saw a small white dot. That dot, which was the incoming contact, grew visibly larger as a beeping noise announced an incoming transmission.

"This is Captain Bright Noah, commanding officer of the _Argama_. Is this some kind of a joke? You sound human, _and_ you're speaking English?" the voice questioned.

"We _are_ human!" Racetrack puzzeled, "We're from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Why are you calling Colonial Standard, English? We urgently require assistance; our systems could go down any minute."

"Because English _is_ what your speaking. Look, we're leaving a hot zone; Earth is in the middle of a limited, yet savage war. We'll be willing to render assistance, as soon as we get a good look at you. Just to make sure you are, who you say you are," Captain Noah replied.

"...holy frak, did he say 'Earth'?!" yelled an exited Roy Focker.

"...excuse me, did you say, 'Earth'?" asked Margaret, more calmly than her RIO.

"That's correct. As I was saying, prepare for to be intercepted. I'm sending a squad to rendezvous with you at one click out, and depending on their report, escort you here afterwards. I assume you're wearing normal suits?" Bright asked.

"Normal suits?" inquired Skulls.

"Pressurized space suits," replied Bright Noah, calmly.

"Yes sir, we are," replied Roy, turning to his commanding officer, quietly said, "Earth! Maybe we're not just a bunch of frak-ups after all!"

"No, We're frakking heroes, assuming we can fix this thing and jump back!" Racetrack replied, as quietly-yet-firmly, as a warm feeling came over her.

"Well, We have the Fleet's coordinates, as soon as we get more... oh, frakking hell," yelled Roy, "What the hell is that?!"

A bright, golden-hued humanoid robot with a blue chest area, made its way towards the Raptor. It was followed by two other darkly-colored, black robots, and all three were closing in. Racetrack was just about to scream "Cylon!!", when another voice came over the comm line.

"This is Lieutenant Quattro Bajeena of the _Argama_, we are here to check you out," the voice said.

"You're inside that Cylon?" Roy asked.

"_Cylon_? Just what, may I ask, is a Cylon? This is a mobile suit, and yes, I am the one piloting it," Quattro replied as the three robots, no, 'mobile suits', came to match speed and trajectory with their Raptor.

"Would you mind letting me aboard?"

"Damn... I wonder if the Cylons will frak themselves over, for not having the idea of building themselves 'jumbo-size', large?" Skulls muttered to himself.

"...copy that, we need to manually blow the hatch, since we used the wiring to fix the rest our systems." Focker replied, glancing at Racetrack, who nodded, after hesitating a moment.

Char Aznable, no, _Quattro Bajeena_, took out what appeared to be a hand held device, firing something at the unknown craft, a long wire shooting out and latching onto the hull.

Noticing that the hatch was already drifting loose, the hand held device rewound it's rope and pulled him towards the craft. He pulled himself inside, quickly noticing the female officer.

"Hello, as I said before, I'm Lt. Quattro Bajeena, a pleasure to meet you," Quattro smiled, grasping her hand.

Seeing the tears in her eyes, he held her more closely, to himself, saying, "It will be alright; please, calm down, tell me what happened."

Racetrack stiffened briefly at the sudden close contact, then let herself relax a bit, if only slightly more so, letting herself grieve.

"We were supposed to be jumping out to Caprica, our largest Colony, to save some survivors from the Holocaust, instead we ended up here." she choked out.

"Holocaust?" Quattro asked, his curiosity peaked at this revelation; yet it also twisted his stomach into knots.You didn't call something a holocaust unless it involved many people ending up dead.

"The Cylon Holocaust, those frakking machines, killed almost twenty-three billion humans. We only have around forty nine thousand souls left, in the Fleet. Two battlestars, the rest are civilian ships."

"We've had shortages of everything: food, water, medicines, you name it..." She continued as Quattro did something he hadn't done in some time, he listened to her words, offering what comfort he could.

-

_Hyaku Shiki, Argama Squadron - 2 Hours After Initial Contact_

Just under an hour later, Quattro returned to his _Hyaku Shiki_. Once the cockpit hatch was shut, he opened a secure, laser-based channel to the _Argama_.

Bright Noah's reaction to his report went about as well as he expected.

"Are you joking with me, lieutenant?" Bright asked.

"No sir, their story seems to checks out, from what I've seen. They possess artificial gravity, though barely functional, as well as some other systems which are far more advanced than even Anaheim's wettest dreams."

"However, quite a few of those were fried by a Minovisky field they crossed through, earlier," Quattro said.

"How many survivors did you say were, out there?" Bright asked.

"Forty-nine thousand, give or take a few. I must weep for the souls of their dead, billions of them. The remnants are suffering... they both need, and deserve, our help," Quattro said solemnly.

"...tow the ship in, we'll call a full meeting of the AEUG higher-ups. Only time will show what exactly they'll do." Bright ordered.

"I'm hoping we can get their 'Raptor's' electronics fixed up. Transversing through a Minovsky field without adequate protection was what fried most of their systems in the first place." Quattro paused, considering both the social and political changes that were bound to occur, and to his own distaste, the advantages such changes would benefit the AEUG.

"...we could possibly give their people refugee status. Their presence would help our own cause greatly." Quattro frankly stated.

"A good point... but that if their enemies follow them here? It sounds like they won't give a damn if we had nothing to do with their conflict with the Colonials. Only that we are human... and thus also valid targets," Bright said.

Quattro mulled that over... for just under two seconds.

"Honestly, I hope they do. It could help undo the Titans' influence. Possibly even unite us all. Also, I won't deny wanting to face the damned robots who made that woman cry and fire a mega particle cannon blast up their shafts... sir."

"...that is sentiment I fully share, admittedly. On the other hand, mankind versus machines sounds like an old cliché, if you ask me," Bright said, albeit grimly.

"All of life is a cliché, Captain," replied Quattro, just as grim.

"Although, if one of them is covered in human flesh and resembles a certain 20th century action movie star, turned-Governor-then-President, I'm running like hell... sir," Quattro said, with just the slightest inflection of humor.

Laughing lightly, Bright Noah replied, "Yes, I suppose you're right."

-

_Anaheim Electronics: Research & Development, Von Braun City, Luna - 1 Week After Initial Contact_

"Hey, you two aren't supposed to be in there!!" yelled Racetrack.

The Raptor was a mere skeleton as wiring was dangling loose everywhere. The Anaheim techs were not only rewiring the systems, but also reinforcing the hull.

The 'lunar titanium' gamma alloy they were using would considerably increase the Raptor's durability, yet remain relatively light, in terms of overall mass. The computers being installed were also more advanced than any used by the Colonials.

A youngish-looking, black-haired Asian male, whom yet strangely had the eyes of a combat veteran, along with a shorter, blond-haired man wearing glasses (who seemingly didn't have the same look in his eyes as his companion), were poking and prodding the cockpit controls.

"Oh! Sorry about that," replied the Asian male, who was wearing Lt., J.G. insignia.

"I just _had_ to see what the controls were like... oh, right, my name's Kou Uraki. This other guy here is my good friend, Chuck Keith."

Kou shook her hand, whereas Keith smiled and waved briefly, then went back to studying the controls.

Racetrack frowned briefly, then recalled the all introductions made a few days ago, and one of the engineers she had been conversing with...

"Wait a second... you're Nina Purpleton's husband, right? She _did_ tell me about you, a little. And yours is?" Racetrack asked, turning to Keith...

"Mora's..." replied Keith, with a sheepish expression.

"Huh... right, now I remember," Racetrack replied, lost in thought.

_Now there was a really odd coupling,_ Racetrack thought to herself, _short, somewhat geeky kid ending up hitched to a BIG, tough woman like Mora... talk about stereotype reversal._

"I heard you two just came out of retirement," Racetrack said, getting her thoughts back in check.

"Yes sir, just don't tell the Titans... they don't particularly like us," replied Keith.

"We'll be the ones escorting your Raptor back to your fleet, once its jump drive is re-installed, and our own jump drives are online, and operational. We were able to replace most of the fried circuit boards, luckily for you not everything went flat-lined. As a plus, our computers are well on par for your systems, including the jump calculations," Kou said, counting his fingers for each point.

Racetrack sighed in relief. Things were going smoothly... so far.

"The Fleet should have remained at the last staging area for a few more days, waiting for the outcome of the rescue operations at Caprica. If we have to, we can extrapolate a probable jump area and conduct a full search for them... we're gonna need scouts, a full recon force," Racetrack said with a grimace. She didn't think that the Earthers would be able to provide that kind of a force on such short notice.

A new voice cut in, causing Kou and Keith to jump in surprise. "Kou, you and Keith better behave yourself, or I'll call Mora to drag both of you out of here personally," Nina Purpleton chided with her fists on her hips. She softened her stern look after a moment with a small smirk. Nina Purpleton had quietly entered the hangar from behind them a minute or so earlier, catching the last few moments of the conversation.

"Yeah, yeah, we will..." came meekly from _both_ Kou and Keith. At the same time.

"Well, the jump drives shouldn't be a problem anymore, even though the first few prototypes didn't pan out. The first few test drones exploded, imploded on activation, or were vaporized in transition," she continued.

When she had first spoke, Kou had practically jumped out of his uniform in surprise. Keith wasn't quite as animated, but still banged his head against the underside of the console he'd been studying.

In contrast, Racetrack merely stiffened briefly, almost spinning around in reflex to a crouch before recognizing the newcomer's voice.

"Some of 'em ended up within Jupiter, and one drone disappeared altogether, completely out of our star system. It took Dr. Yuri Minovsky himself _and_ his team quite a while, not only to reproduce the jump drive, but to get the programming all worked out," the Nina continued. "We've finally finished work on the mobile suit-scale variant, and a capital ship version should be ready to install, in a day or two," Nina concluded.

"Getting the helium-3 reactors to power the drives also wasn't easy, _until_ we found out that a beam rifle's e-caps could provide the controlled-energy discharge for the jump. Heck, they're also rechargeable," Nina Purpleton commented, as she walked past the Raptor.

That wasn't the only thing that was keeping Racetrack more than slightly on edge.

Some of their technolgies used by this 'Earth Federation' and its colonies still made her twitch nervously. In particular, the almost overwhelming usage of actual Energy _beam weaponry_. Which _wasn't_ laser-based, but - along the lines of a particle beam. _And_ the fact that it packed an incredible armor-penetration capability. On top of that, some varieties were portable enough to be carried by their mobile suits, as a _frakking rifle_.

A giant rifle, to be sure. But still, smaller than what their energy supply would demand, to be effective.

Definitely more dangerous than just about anything the Colonials had, with the possible exception of nukes.

She couldn't wait to see a Cylon fleet to go up against Earth ships... assuming that that happened before the Fleet moved on.

Changing the topic, Kou asked "I heard you're a fighter pilot?"

"Yeah, we call 'em Vipers," Racetrack said, glad for the interruption on her moment of introspection.

"What I'd give for a chance to fly one... but have you seen the linear-seat cockpits for the newest mobile suits?" Kou asked, apparently unable to stay on topic due to his earlier surprise.

-

_Hyaku Shiki, Argama Squadron - 2 Hours Earlier_

Quattro smiled as he got out of the seat, "Hop in and give her a try."

"Really?" Racetrack asked. She admitted it, the curiosity was killing her, just how did someone pilot these things?

Quattro nodded. Racetrack sat down in the seat, trying to make herself comfortable.

She immediately took note of the near 360 degree array of monitors, spaced around the cockpit.

Tactical awareness was clearly a top priority for these people.

_Smart thinking, but apparently no external viewports if the systems crash,_ Racetrack thought.

Sometimes, the good old Mark 1 eyeball was simply the best option.

"Now," Quattro said with his arm over hers. "Push the right lever forward while easing up on the left."

The mobile suit did a perfect 180 in a split-second, ending up facing the opposite direction.

"Good. Now, ease up on the throttle. Lt. Appoly, launch the targeting dummies." Quattro ordered, as a group of MS-shaped balloons where launched from the _Argama_. After a certain distance, they self-inflated, increasing in size to a full mobile suit, providing the perfect targets.

"Now, move us in the general direction of the target and wait for it," Quattro stated, as a target cursor moved across the display until it overlaid the target and glowed red. "Press the trigger... now!"

-

_Anaheim Electonics: R & D - Present Time_

"Yeah, Lt. Quatro personally showed me his _Hyaku Shiki_. Frak, I _still_ can't believe manuverable it was, given its size! Kind of slow, though. It really needs a faster STL," Racetrack critiqued.

"STL?" The question came from Keith.

"A.K.A. slower-than-light drive," Racetrack replied, "These MS's must be really short-ranged. Vipers and Raptors can cover a much larger distance in the same time, with less fuel usage."

"Well, we're planning on upgrading the G-force balancers. They'll be based on the Raptor's design, so they won't be optimal. Still, our mobile suits will definitely have increased acceleration and maneuverability, so it sort of works out," Keith commented.

Seeing the tired eyes of the lieutenant, Keith made a decision.

"Hey, why don't we go to the lounge? Break time sounds real good, right about now..."

Silent agreement passed between the three, as they started making their way towards the lounge.

Conversation continued, regardless.

"That beam weaponry you guys use; that's just plain scary. I'd hate to see what an ace pilot can do with those suckers," Racetrack said.

"Speaking of aces... I've heard HE's going to be part of the force," commented Keith.

"Him? You mean it?" asked Kou.

"Yep, Lieutenant Amuro Ray himself, THE top ace, backslash hero of the One Year War," Keith agreed.

"War hero, big deal," Racetrack said, shrugging, "The type can be overrated."

Kou started laughing, not rudely.

"What's so funny?" Racetrack inquired, surprised at the reaction.

"Yeah, that may be true, the whole overrated hero bit, but believe me, Amuro Ray's the real deal," Kou had managed to stop laughing, and now was merely smirking, although again, not rudely.

"Lt. Amuro's a Newtype, from what I hear that other pilot who's with him, Kamille Bidan, wasn't it? He might be one, too." Kou said.

"Newtype?" Racetrack asked. That term didn't come up in any conversations earlier, as far as she recalled.

"Put it this way, I'm technically an ace pilot, but I don't think I'm anywhere near their level of skill!" Kou sighed.

"Okay... seriously, what's a Newtype?" Racetrack was getting annoyed. Still, she was curious.

The explanation she got was _not_ what she expected, for certain.

Kou had a expression of grim concentration on his face, as he recalled what little information, mainly rumors and propagandas, spread by the Zeon and ridiculed by the Titans, had regarding the Newtype phenomena.

"A Newtype is supposed to be what happens when humans adapt to living in space. Individuals gain a sort of sixth sense, able to perceive things beyond the normal senses, you know, sight, hearing, touch, and so on."

"But also, they're practically demons on the battlefield. I heard that Amuro Ray took out nine Rick Dom's within a few minutes. Most, if not all of them were also aces. You can imagine what he could do to inexperienced grunt pilots."

By this point, Kou had a look of both awe and fear in his eyes.

"The people who observed the fight, said that it was as if he knew where everyone and everything was in the battlefield, at all times. He decimated the suits so quickly, that very few survivors even had the time to react." Kou said.

"He was piloting one of those really high end MS's... a Gundam, right?" Racetrack asked.

She'd gotten a brief history on the On Year war, as lots of people abbreviated that war, as well as the mobile suit that had almost single-handedly held off the Zeon until the Federation could mass-produce their own variant (the GM, if she remembered correctly) from Nina. Whom had turned out to be a big fan of Amuro Ray, and the Gundam in particular.

Rumor had it that Nina had several posters of the original Gundam in her office.

Thinking back on Kou's description of Amuro Ray's combat prowess, it sounded quite a bit like Starbuck's piloting style, now that she thought about it...

"Yeah, the original RX-78-2, though it's pretty much old and outdated, by now. Then again, I heard the Titans made a MKII version, which the AEUG got their hands on, and right now, the AEUG and some people here at Anaheim are finalizing another one, code-named Project Zeta." Keith continued, in Kou's place.

"Nina was recalled here to revive the GP-unit project. Hell, we're supposedly even getting help from Axis forces, of all people. You two scared the shit out of us about the Cylons," Keith concluded.

After the long walk, the finally reached the lounge.

The door opened as they entered; it looked your typical lounge setup with chairs, food dispensers and a balcony with a decent view.

Only this particular view was a _hell_ of a lot more than just _decent_.

The view practically mesmerized Racetrack. The multi-tiered, subterranean lunar city was massive, even by Colonial standards.

"Do you think I could be a Newtype?" asked Racetrack, after a few seconds of hesitation.

"...maybe. Rumor has it that all humans have the potential to become a Newtype. It just takes the proper stimuli," Kou said.

It occurred to Racetrack that Lt. Uraki didn't state what those stimuli were. She doubted it was due to lack of trust, but rather the fact that he really didn't know.

It just brought up even more questions, though Racetrack kept them to herself.

All three sat down on the comfortable sofa/bench on the patio facing central Von Braun City, basically a giant shaft in the crust, with multiple levels serving as individual sectors.

"...Damn, what I'd give to see Starbuck's face, when we arrive with an escort fleet, AND a way to Earth," Racetrack said. Her thoughts once again drifted towards the question of just _how_ _much_ help she'd be coming with...

"Wait... Starbuck? Someone you know got named after a coffee brand?" Kou asked, downright puzzled. Keith had a similar expression on his face.

"Coffee brand? What are you talking about? Starbuck is the callsign of Captain Kara Thrace, one of our Viper pilots," Racetrack replied, now even more confused than ever.

"You're kidding?" asked Keith who'd been quiet up to this point, "You're not kidding?"

Racetrack shook her head, no.

"Okay then, I'll get us something to drink. Be right back," Keith then left for several minutes.

Racetrack remained confused about the whole deal, until Keith came back with three medium sized cups. He handed one to her, and another to Kou.

"Mocha for the lovely lady, vanilla for Kou, and plain for me." Keith said "Okay then, now does anyone want... lessee, Rice Crispies bars, or a muffin while I'm still up?"

Unrestrained laughter echoed across the hall, as Racetrack read the writing on the coffee cup.

"Starbucks' Coffee. I don't believe this," Racetrack said, still laughing, "Oh, I've gotta show this to Skulls... unless Roy's found out already."

Taking a brief sip, she approved.

"...it's pretty good. Gods, I'll be having _so_ much fun with this. Although, Thrace will be cursing her callsign if and when someone puts a Starbucks on the _Galactica_."

"...Gods?" Kou asked, once more taken off guard.

_I've really got to stop overreacting to these things... then again, maybe it's appropriate in this case,_ he thought.

Although the topic made her a bit uncomfortable, given the honest surprise in Lt. Uraki's voice, Racetrack decided to expand on her comment.

"I already had this discussion with a few others. In the Colonies we follow a polytheistic system with a whole pantheon, instead of the single God your people seem to prefer."

"Frankly, it's just amazing that our gods are even part of your world's mythology. Zeus, Hera, Athena, among others," Racetrack said. That was a massive understatement, if there ever was any.

And it still brought back reminders of the Cylons' belief in a single God... all of this was too much of a coincidence. _Maybe there wasn't any_, she reflected.

It was something she'd have to bring up with the Admiral and the President, she was damned sure of that.

"So, where were you born?" asked Keith, changing the topic to something a little less uncomfortable, for all three of them.

"Caprica," Racetrack said, somewhat grateful for another topic, for the reason that Keith thought of (though she didn't know that), as well as other darker thoughts...

"Really? I'm a Capricorn, myself," Kou said, mulling over the implications of what Margaret (who seemingly preferred to be referred to by her call sign) said, would mean, socially, politically, and possibly even scientifically, given the far too many similarities with parts of Earth history.

"You still use the symbols of the Twelve Colonies?" an astonished Racetrack asked. From her earlier conversation, it seemed as though any Colonial cultural references were considered little more than historical footnotes.

"In a way, it depends on what month we were born in. I was born in January, hence I'm a Capricorn, Keith here is a Libra," Kou said.

"Add to that, people look up their horoscopes, a sort of prediction, on their birth signs. For most people, it's a just a form of entertainment, but there are some people that really believe in them."

"...Well, that's frakking cool, more stuff we have in common," Racetrack said, all the while chalking up another disturbing similarity, that was only slightly different from her own culture.

"Frak? You've used that term several times now," Kou said, remembering an old 21st century science fiction series.

"Is that a cousin to frell?" Kou asked, slightly jokingly, hoping his guess wasn't dead wrong...

"You know, frak. As in, frak you, frak off; You frak when you have sex." Racetrack crassly explained, without any embarassment.

"Got it, right..." Kou said. To their credit, he and Keith barely blushed themselves. His guess was right on the money.

"We're supposed to be leaving in a few days, tops. But man, I'm gonna miss this place. That brief visit to that colony, that was damn fun. I couldn't believe how realistic the environment was. It's even more realistic then our own Cloud Nine," Racetrack said, recalling the very few stops she had there, given how busy the Fleet's pilots were, most of the time.

"Oh, they're real, in a way. The O'Neill cylinders were designed to be minature planets. They generate their own gravity, electricity, fully recycle their water, and so on. They're amazing, in hindsight," Keith replied.

It was true, living in an era where such constructs were so common, it made you forget the perspective of someone who'd never seen anything like them.

"In fact, I believe the AEUG is planning on offering one of them to your fleet, for the civilians to settle in," Keith said.

"Is one going to be enough?" Racetrack asked, "Forty-nine thousand survivors is a lot of people."

Overcrowding had been near the top of the Fleet's concerns, when fuel and water weren't an issue, though it was one problem that could never really be remedied.

"O'Neill-type colonies can handle ten million, if necessary. Now that I think about it, our population density is pretty low, given the number of colonies we built," Kou said.

"...frak me," was the only reply she could come up with.

Wisely, both Kou and Keith didn't comment on that, settling for restrained chuckles instead.

"Seriously though, we're sixteen billion and still going strong, the human race is far from finished. If and when your people are safe and secure, we're gonna make sure that nothing like that happens, ever again," Kou said, with a determined gaze.

-

_Colonial One - Post-Caprica Rescue Operation, 1 Week Later_

President Laura Roslin stared out at the stars. The election had gone well. She was re-elected with a landslide victory.

Doctor (And former Vice-President) Gaius Baltar had laid out the plans to jump to a location, called the "Lion's Head Nebula" to obtain a clue as to the location of Earth.

The Fleet would be holding memorial services for the Raptor crews lost-in-action during the rescue operations on Caprica, before all vessels jumped out of their current star system.

Another Raptor was already prepped and ready to jump to the location. She made one last prayer to the Lords of Kobol for better times, just as a bright light outside her window woke her out of her trance, sending her into a brief state of shock.

"Tory, what the frak was that?" Roslin yelled, angry more with herself than with her aide, for being shocked so easily.

"Fireworks," Tory explained "There's a celebration on Cloud Nine, but it's also a send-off to the dead."


	3. Chapter 2 Sol Side Blues

_Cloud Nine: Baltar's Suite - Post-Caprica Rescue Operation, 8 Days Later_

Dr. Gaius Baltar was agitated.

Not only had he lost the election, NOTHING else seemed to be going his way.

He was, as usual, sulking in his laboratory. To anyone other than himself, Gaius' ranting would mark him as insane.

'Normal' people did not yell at empty air. Then again, _normal_ people couldn't see the Number Six human-form Cylon which had somehow embedded itself in his mind.

She was both a devil and an angel, that always told him of God's plans for him, his and Six's child, and so on.

"And just _where_ was your God when we needed him? I was supposed to win... for frakking's sake," Baltar groaned, re-filling his glass again with a deft motion of his left hand.

"God has a plan, he always does, Gaius." replied Six, "You really shouldn't be drinking that much, you might make another mistake."

"Oh frak you, frak me, frak humanity and frak all the bloody Cylons," as he drank another shot of the _really_ hard liquor.

_It really was worth trading some of his possessions in the Fleet's 'Black Market' for this bottle_, Baltar thought.

"I'm going to get downright pissed and have fun doing so, so bugger off already!" Baltar said, wobbling a bit, his sense of balance seriously impaired.

Number Six just stood where she was, unfazed, with a steely expression of disapproval.

"In case you didn't hear me the first time," he cursed, "I'm planning on getting smashed out of my head, and enjoy it! So frak... the bloody... hell... OFF!"

Six was extremely tempted to give Gaius Baltar _the_ beating of his life for his disrespect, yet still restrained herself.

If she gave in to that desire just now, Gaius might not survive. That was unacceptable. God's plan demanded that he remain alive.

"Fine," Six bit out, now with a look of utter disgust on her face.

"Do whatever the hell you want," growled Six, just before she disappeared.

Baltar let out a planet-shattering belch; had a dedicated fan of twentieth-century Earth science fiction been present, said fan would have sworn that Baltar's drunkenness put General Korrd of _Star Trek_ infamy to shame.

-

_Colonial Battlestar _Galactica _- Same Time_

The celebration in the _Galactica's_ Officers' Mess was still going strong; morale, not just on _Galactica_ (known among several circles as 'the Bucket'), but across the Fleet, was reaching an all-time high.

Samuel Anders and Captain Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace had put together a makeshift Pyramid court out of requisitioned materials, that would have normally been slated for more essential projects as ship hulls, armor plating, or Fleet ordinance.

It would've been both tedious and difficult to assemble one, let alone collect the needed items, had Admiral Adama not offered his assistance, who had then personally made sure that the two got their material, by pulling a few strings, and calling in some favors from the captains of the forge ships.

Flash forward to the present...

The current match was in full heat, as both teams remained dead even. One team was lead by _Galactica's_ CAG, "Starbuck" Thrace, facing off against _Pegasus'_ CAG, Captain Louanne "Kat" Katraine.

Kat was still surprised that she managed to land that billet.

Today's winner would have the honor of jumping to the Lion's Head Nebula, while the losers would face the humiliation of having to babysit the Fleet.

Needless to say, competition was the fiercest it'd been in months. Each of the assembled pilots' knew that their own pride was on the firing line.

Defeat wasn't an option.

"Go Kara, go! Kick 'em all to the curb! They don't stand a chance!"

That came from Samual Anders, Starbuck's current love interest.

She'd gone through hell to get him back, yet it was all thanks to that frakkin' toaster who called herself Sharon Valerii...

_Alright, this particular Sharon _might_ have earned the right to some respect from the crew... if she were planning something, the recent elections would've been the prime opportunity, yet she'd done nothing to provoke hostility from either _Galactica_ or _Pegasus

_Someday,_ Kat thought, _she _might_ be able to view 'this' Boomer as something more than just another Cylon skin-job, but that day hadn't arrived yet... but who knew? Maybe only the Lords of Kobol had that answer..._

"_Ah, frak it,_" Kat cursed, mentally.

"_Why does Starbuck, of all people, end up with the resident hottie rooting for her?!"_

That internal monologue resulted in Kat missing a pass.

Which ended up in the hands of _Galactica's_ team.

Not that she really noticed, since she was still lost in thought, although trying to block the current ball-carrier.

"Gods, all I want is a hot guy to frak," she thought, staring at the crowd for her options.

"All of the good ones are already taken, or frakking dead..."

-

_Colonial Battlestar_ Pegasus_ - Same Time_

Newly-minted Lieutenant J.G. Anastasia "Dee" Dualla, was still getting used to the _Pegasus'_ CIC.

Compared to _Galactica's_ almost complete lack of automation (due to fear of Cylon hacking, which the Cylon Massacre proved was more than justified), _Pegasus_ possessed nearly twice the overall volume of the older _Columbia_-class battlestars, like 'the Bucket', but also more advanced systems common to the _Mercury_-class.

The _Mercury_-class battlestars, of which _Pegasus_ was part of, were also known for having a considerally smaller crew complement than any older vessels, and combined with the greater degree of automation, _Pegasus'_ CIC occupied a much smaller area, with not even a dozen crewmen and officers on duty at once.

MUCH different than its counterpart on _Galactica_, which tended to have twice, or even three times that many people present at any given time.

Oh, she was glad she got the transfer to 'the Beast', as it meant having more time together with now-Commander Lee "Apollo" Adama, Pegasus' CO.

Lee himself, at the moment, was monitoring the Pyramid match on a remote display.

He couldn't leave his post to attend, since plans were underway for the Fleet to jump out to one of the nearby star systems, then send out Raptors to search for the nebula Doctor Baltar's notes indicated.

_Maybe Lee's having mixed feelings about this match, considering his ship's CAG and his one-time best friend were facing off..._

For a moment, Dee wondered on the implications of what she'd just thought a few seconds ago, but shrugged it off.

Nonsense._He's just letting himself feel like a kid again,_ she thought. _Nothing more than that._

The match was being broadcast live to the entire Fleet, over the wireless.

Rumor had it that the citizens wanted to revive the Pyramid League, as not only would it provide a venue for entertainment, but also a way of releasing all the pent-up stress and frustration within the Fleet's personnel.

-

_Cloud Nine: Unknown Location - Also Same Time_

Unknown to their neighbors, two human-form Cylon models discussed the immediate future, all the while observing the Pyramid match on a hastily-obtained wireless viewer.

"You do understand what must happen, if they uncover any information on you, or the plan," said D'Anna Biers, or rather, Number Three.

"Yes, but will you be able to go through with it?" asked Gina, a Number Six model, albeit with slightly darker hair, than the Number Six known by Gaius Baltar.

"Certainly. As you will be reborn, it is not technically murder," Three explained.

Returning their attention to the sporting event, the 'reporter' asked, "Just what exactly do you see in this sport?"

Gina's eyes narrowed in concentration, attempting to recall the exact memory, before responding.

"Gaius told me a story once. It was back when he and Caprica Six were still lovers. He would buy a ticket for the both of them, and watch the matches."

As she spoke, the Number Six model gained an increasingly wistful expression on her face.

Something that the Number Three didn't miss, as Gina continued.

"He would close his eyes, and let the emotion from the crowd flow over him."

As she finished speaking, Gina stared out her suite's window (a _very_ expensive suite, in retrospect) into Cloud Nine's artificial sky.

To her own (belated) surprise, she added, "Maybe, we can start our own league someday?"

To say that Number Three was shocked, would be an understatement of epic proportions.

Several of the Six models, much like some of the Eights, were possibly becoming _too_ human.

Something would have to be done about that, preferably sooner than later.

"Perhaps," D'Anna replied, in a very cryptic manner.

-

_Von Braun City, Luna - eight Days After Initial Contact_

Von Braun city was certainly different from the Colonies, yet strangely familiar to Roy Focker.

Who had earlier been on a quest for a good, stiff drink.

Thankfully, the Anaheim Electronics people had given him some credits.

He'd hit the gold mine, when he found what was called a grocery store.

What he'd found, was many different kinds of alcoholic beverages, none of which seemed familiar.

Focker finally broke down and asked one of the locals, who recommended, 'tequila mixed with a soda drink called Squirt', as well as a drink called 'Scotch'.

He also almost died laughing when he found the locals had a coffee brand called Starbucks.

_Racetrack just had to hear this,_ Skulls thought. _Then again, with my luck, she's found out already._

He didn't dare consider the thought of bringing this subject up in Capt. Thrace's earshot. He'd be KIA within seconds.

Skulls ended up buying several cases' worth of each, after trying the tequila and scotch. Pretty good, but still not _quite_ his taste.

With the sheer selection available, he wasn't really sure which thirty-two pack to give to Captain Thrace. Well, he'd still get a kick out of doing so.

His purchases made, Skulls started his way back to Anaheim Electronics, to get an update on the situation from Racetrack.

They'd been guests of the Thirteenth Colony for eight days now. More precisely, the Anti-Earth Union Group (AEUG) faction of the Earth Sphere, Sol System. The locals' name for their star system, apparently.

That acronym, 'AEUG', didn't sit entirely well with Roy, even though he'd been given the background on the group's origins, and their eventual goals of an Earth Sphere free of the influence of the dictatorial 'Titans' group.

At least the Titans clearly seemed to be the bad guys, given what he'd heard of the Colony thirty massacre. Three million souls, killed by G-3 poison gas, just to stop an anti-Earth protest, in a blatant attempt to discourage any further dissent.

It brought back extremely unpleasant memories of what Admiral Helena Cain, of the _Pegasus,_ had done, all in the name of maintaining order and efficiency, to the small civilian fleet she abandoned, not to mention executing her long-time XO, who had protested her actions.

_Get a hold of yourself, Focker! Pull your thoughts back on track!_

With an effort of will easily visible to nearby pedestrians, Skulls brought himself back to the present, and to less offensive thoughts.

Margaret Edmondson, as both the ranking officer and a Viper pilot, had been busy with the 'official' side of business during their star, whereas he was more of a 'grunt' operator.

Thus, Skulls was free to explore and play the proverbial tourist. What he found, was that this lunar city was very reminiscent of home.

Quite a few cultural differences, which he really couldn't put words to, were foremost in his mind.

Yet at the same time, he saw how much alike his people and those of the Thirteenth Tribe were.

One difference he couldn't bring himself to accept, was the fully-squared shape of their books, and by extension, their paper.

He _really_ missed the hexagonal-cornered variety that the Fleet used.

The manager of a local paper provider, _FedEx-Kinkos_, thought that Roy was out of his mind, after he purchased some stationery, and then proceeded to cut the corners off all the sheets.

_Hey, I bought the damn paper, so I'll do whatever I frakkin' want with it!_ were Focker's thoughts on the subject.

He'd been to one of the local parks, silently watching the children play. The surrealism of it all, brought a tear to his eye.

The notion that Humanity was not dying out, that is was indeed strong and still growing, uplifted Focker's spirits to a level he didn't believe, existed.

_Oh, for want of the day when all thirteen tribes would re-unite, and send every last frakking Cylon to the scrap yard..._

_Pesonally, I'd melt down a few Centurions, just to make a couple of nice, cheap, lamp posts_, Skulls mused.

He fervently wished that that all of the Earthers would pull themselves together, and put aside this internal strife, like the Twelve Colonies did so, as a result of the First Cylon War.

Ironically, the original Cylons were created to help wage war against fellow Colonials, one colony against another, human versus human.

They had treated the Cylons as little more than disposable tools, until said 'tools' had decided to more or less tell their masters to 'Go frak yourselves,' thus _all_ humans were now the enemy.

History tended to be cyclic, in a very cruel way, yet at the same time, proved that it played no favorites.

The Cylons would likely bring death and destruction down upon this fragmented patch of humanity, he was fairly sure. Just as they had with Focker's own people, not even two years ago.

The notion of a cybernetic race, whom now possessed the means to create nearly undetectable infiltrators, _and_ had goals simply beyond revenge on their creators, had sent the leaders of the various Earth-, lunar-, Jovian- and colony based factions into an uproar.

Just what exactly those goals were, no one in the Fleet knew. Not even their own resident skin-job defector, who claimed that she'd cut off all ties to her people.

Skulls was currently reserving judgment on her, and her loyalty. He wouldn't go out of his way to help 'Boomer #2', but he didn't think of her as 'just another frakking skin-job toaster.'

_Still,_ Focker mused, _at least the information on the Cylons is getting _some _of the local higher-ups to pay more attention to more than just their immediate sphere of influence, limited as it was, and make at least _some _attempt at showing pan-global unity._

The latest rumors had it that a small fleet of ships were being assembled. That fleet's orders were to jump to the Colonials' last known position. In the event of confirmed non-hostile contact, the fleet was give any and all necessary support to the Colonial refugees, until their ships could be brought to a designated safe zone within the Earth Sphere.

Medical supplies (including the necessary staff), as well as foodstuffs and munitions were among the items being assembled. All of these provisions were crammed to capacity aboard a _Jupitris_-class super-transport, which rumors suggested was the maiden ship of the class, the _Jupitris_ herself.

The various higher-ups, including those from AEUG, Axis, Federation, and even the Titans all agreed, that knowledge of Earth's position was to be protected at any and all costs, until all factions could beef up their defenses for a possible, and likely inevitable, all-out assault by Cylon forces.

_Looks like his and Racetrack's return would be the proverbial mixed bag, Skulls concluded_.

The entire Fleet would be ecstatic that they had some place that they could truly call a new home, and settle down in.

On the other hand... he couldn't even guess on how the Colonials would fare in the long term, especially given the frakked up political and social issues of the Earth Sphere.

_Yeah, that part's not gonna make the Admiral, the President, nor the Quorum happy. Not one damn bit._

-

_Mobile Suit Carrier _Argama_: Lounge - nine Days After Initial Contact_

Racetrack hummed to herself, reflecting on the current situation, as she sipped from a fresh cup of coffee in the _Argama's_ pilot lounge.

Plotting the jump to the the Fleet's location was taking longer then initially expected; the coordinates needed adjustments, factoring in stellar drift and relativistic conditions.

If it came down to it, there was the option of making shorter jumps (in order to avoid the all-too-real possibility of jump failure, or worse, a mis-jump to who-knows-where), and extrapolating probable target areas for the Colonial refugees, as the rescue fleet proceeded on its mission.

Fortunately, Earth computers seemed to be far in advance of the Colonials' equivalent, so the risk wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been.

And yet, the idea of FTL travel was barely even a consideration for the Earth scientists, outside of the realm of theory...

Still, neither she, nor Skulls had any intention of tempting death, due to their hosts' overconfidence in their computer technology.

Edmondson and Focker had warned the various participating Commanders on the electronic warfare capabilities of the Cylons, systems hacking in particular, just to be thorough.

Techs from Anaheim and the AEUG, after a detailed analysis of the Raptor's systems, had determined that the two computer technology bases were inherently incompatible, and thus virtually immune to ESW (electronic systems warfare) attacks from the Cylons.

The basis for the techs' conclusions, drew upon the history of Earth's information technology, all the way back to the old, pre-UC calendar era.

Earth, it seemed, had utilized an immense variety of operating systems, many of which had turned out to be incompatible with their competitors. Even in the current day and age, a similar practice endured.

Regardless, standards of that era (as well as the present), had demanded that those systems to _at least_ be able to communicate with each other, if not necessarily run their competitors' products.

Not only that, innumerable hardware and software-based firewalls had been developed over time, to ensure network security. They utilized protocols completely different that those used by the Twelve Colonies, further reducing the threat of remote access.

On the off-chance that the firewalls were somehow bypassed, many thousands of anti-virus/malware programs existed. Utilized in a nested configuration, any foreign programming code that survived the firewalls, would be immediately find itself besieged and contained, if not outright deleted.

The finale 'ace in the hole', an odd metaphor if Racetrack ever heard one, were the Minovsky particle fields that their vessels deployed during combat conditions.

By all indications, those fields dampened virtually all electro-magnetic emissions. DRADIS (or radar, as the Earthers called it), wireless (Or radio another new term from the earthers), just about anything EM based (excepting visual), was rendered useless in a Minovsky field.

Even IF the Cylons could somehow break through all of the network security, and even _that_ required the Cylons to somehow brute-force a 'handshake' with the Earth-based systems (which was already an extremely remote possibility), all of this was effort was rendered meaningless by the EM-dampening properties of a Minovsky particle field.

The Minovsky field pretty much frakked over both Colonial and Cylon hardware like no tomorrow, akin to setting off multiple EM pulses at close range.

Not to mention wireless communication was all but impossible. Laser-based messaging seemed to be the accepted standard for both MS and capital ship communications.

_All of these factors, of course, reduce combat range to practically point-blank, knife-fighting. And that's a whole other issue altogether,_ Racetrack mused.

She'd have to bring those issues up with the Admiral, too.

In particular, missiles were likely to become secondary considerations for combat, even if the Fleet's entire stocks were somehow refitted to use ImRec (Image Recognition) based tracking, but that was probably too cost-prohibitive to even attempt, and probably wouldn't even work anyway.

No, missiles were definitely looking to be phased out, especially the Viper and Raptor-mounted versions.

-

_Several Hours Later - Same Location_

Forcing her thoughts to return to the present, her attention was currently occupied by the immense leviathan currently holding relative position, alongside the _Argama_.

"Okay... that ship is frakkin' big," she muttered, staring out the viewport. At 2 clicks in length, it dwarfed both the 'Bucket' and the 'Beast'.

"Well, to be fair, it IS a transport vessel," came from a voice behind her, who she identified as Lt. Bajeena.

"A pleasure to see you again, Lieutenant Edmondson," Quattro smiled.

She'd only arrived on the _Argama_ hours ago, as Captain Noah had previously returned to Earth to pick up a few extra passengers.

_Speaking of whom, here they are now,_ Quattro thought, even as he grimaced slightly at the presence of one of the _Argama's_ newest pilots.

Immediately noticing the new arrivals, Racetrack stood up, sizing up the two.

Neither of the two men were particularly tall, she noted, the taller of the two standing no more than 5'9", the shorter, and younger-looking man around 5'6".

The taller man had dark-brown, curly hair cut short, almost in a bowl-shape, with a trim, yet very fit physique. However, what really stood out about him, were the pair of blue-hued eyes, that were among the most haunted Racetrack had ever seen, bar none.

_This guy's definitely seen, and gone through some damn serious shit in his time. Probably wasn't even something he wanted to happen in the first place, _Racetrack surmised.

The shorter of the two new arrivals, was something of a marked contrast to the first man.

His frame was somewhat slender, though unmistakably tensed, and his facial profile, framed by blue-colored (how did THAT happen?) hair, that was somewhat longer than his companion's, gave off an very slight feminine impression.

At least, that was what a stranger would have interpreted, until one looked into the young man's blue eyes.

As opposed to the haunted, yet also distant look that she'd seen from the first man, this one's eyes looked to combine anger, fear, mistrust, and a terrible sense of loss, all in one.

_Oh frak, she thought. This one's just only been recently thrown into the deep end, and he's just barely managing to pull through,_ Racetrack concluded.

_Just like a whole lot of us, after the Twelve Colonies were wiped out._

"May I introduce Lieutenant Amuro Ray, known among some circles as the 'White Devil'," Quattro gestured towards the brown-haired man, keeping a completely neutral expression on his face, which wasn't hindered at all by the dark-shaded glasses he almost always seemed to wear.

Amuro's expression had hardened at the reference, but held his peace, for the time being.

He wasn't fooled in the least by the 'Quattro Bajeena' identity, when they'd met briefly while on Earth. It was definitely HIM.

"And this young man here, is Kamille Bidan," Quattro repeated the same gesture as he had with Lt. Amuro, but also wore a slight smile on his face, this time. In addition, Quattro's stance wasn't nearly as tense as when he'd introduced Amuro Ray.

Kamille himself briefly tensed at the mention of his first name, then visibly calmed himself.

_Ouch, having a girl's name can't _possibly_ be good for a guy's self-esteem. Note to self: make sure not to bring that up in conversation; also make sure that Skulls knows not to talk about it, either, _Racetrack noted.

"Gentlemen, this is one of our not-exactly extra-terrestrial guests, Lieutenant Margaret Edmondson, of the Colonial Fleet. She prefers her callsign, 'Racetrack'."

Both Amuro and Kamille gave a polite nod of their heads, as well as a restrained smile.

"These two will be piloting two Gundams available to us."

"Nice to meet the both of you," Racetrack extended her hand to both pilots, who shook her hand in turn.

"Lieutenant Ray, heard a lot about you from the other pilots. Supposed to be the best frakkin' pilot they know," Racetrack said, as she faced Amuro.

"Rumor mill says, you eat your enemies' hearts raw in a sandwich, and women throw themselves at your feet, begging to have your children," Racetrack joked, falling back on the time-honored grim, sarcastic humor that veteran pilots always seemed to use to lighten up a situation.

Amuro smirked, accepting the friendly bait, "Thanks, but the rumor mill's a bit off. Human hearts give me indigestion, and I've got no luck whatsoever with women," he finished.

_That last part was actually true, in a way, _Amuro mused. He'd lost track of Sayla over the years.

_Really,_ Racetrack grinned. _Kind of cute, but that thousand-klick stare would definitely drive off the more 'normal' crowd,_ she concluded.

"Change of topic here, but I heard that Project Zeta's prototype is coming along for the Ride?" Amuro asked.

"Already locked up, loaded, and ready to kick some serious Cylon ass. It's a thing of beauty," Racetrack replied.

"Handles like a dream, and the Waverider Mode's a really big plus, since I've had some flight time in a Viper." That was yet another massive understatement.

The Zeta Gundam was frakking _transformable_. It combined the best aspects of a jet-fighter mode, with all primary thrusters vectored aft for maximum acceleration, and could revert to mobile suit mode once it reached its designated combat zone for optimum maneuverability, as well as the more familiar piloting style used by all MS-assigned personnel in the Earth forces.

Theoretically, the Waverider Mode could even allow safe, un-aided re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, a curious (and possibly fatal) omission from the large majority of the Earth Sphere's mobile suits.

Even Vipers and Raptors were capable of such a feat, both into and out of, though that would suck down their Tylium reserves, like water to a very dry sponge.

"You already flew it?" Kamille asked, shocked. He was practically its original designer (though Anaheim had certainly helped out); he believed that he himself should have gotten first crack at piloting the Zeta.

"Oh, yeah. Nina Purpleton from Anaheim, let me and Lt. Kou Uraki try it out. Have to admit, he's pretty damn good... alright, better than I am," Racetrack admitted.

Amuro and Quattro both recalled the name from rumors flying around in the aftermath of Operation Stardust, back in UC 0083.

Amuro had heard the name muttered by some guards, several times during his house arrest, whereas Quattro had come across the name, spoken of in disgust, fear, and respect, all at once occasionally, from his clandestine visits to the various ex-Zeon factions.

The young, inexperienced, ex-test pilot had rapidly developed his skills to the point where he could fight Anavel Gato, a.k.a. the 'Nightmare of Solomon', considered among the very best non-Newtype pilots flying under Zeon ideals, on a nearly-even level.

Uraki may not have been a Newtype, but his piloting skills were certainly not just for show.

Kamille on the other hand, just barely recognized the name, once having overheard a conversation between his late father, and one of those murdering bastards from the Titans. He couldn't quite remember the conversation's topic, but the name was definitely there.

"Yeah, he's definitely good, but not quite in the league of Starbuck, Kat, or Lt. Bajeena here," she continued.

"Still surprised that you guys have to maintain your own rides. We've got a full deck crew for that... then again, I suppose I can see the reasoning behind it. Never know when you're the only qualified mechanic, Gods' know how far away from any safe harbor," Racetrack finished.

"Here, here..." chorused from the other three MS pilots.

Belatedly noting a certain coffee brand being used in an odd context, Amuro asked, "Starbuck? She a coffee-holic?"

Amuro understood quite well that the name was most likely a call sign, but it was such an _easy_ mark for really bad puns...

Catching on quickly, Kamille followed up with, "You people got a Starbucks there? Wow. And here I thought the company was _only_ system-wide, now they're interstellar... guys' who started that franchise must be filthy rich," he finished, with a downright _evil_ smirk on his face.

That got few cheap laughs from all four pilots, followed by Racetrack's (often repeated) explanation of Thrace's call sign.

"Out of curiosity, why _don't_ we pilots use call signs?" Kamille asked.

It was a question that hadn't really seemed important before now, but since the topic was brought up, he ran with it.

He was also quite curious about certain rumors regarding Lt. Quattro's past, and a nickname he went by...

"Ace pilots during the AD calendar used to have 'em. Well, either call signs _or_ nicknames, why don't we re-instate the practice?"

Amuro could see where this was heading, and he decided to torment 'Quattro Bajeena', just a little.

While he respected the man professionally for his abilities, on a personal level, he still hadn't forgiven Char Aznable, nor himself for that matter, for the death of a certain person dear to both of them.

Amuro _was_, however, willing to at least put the past behind, and _try_ to forget, all the while fighting alongside his once arch-enemy/rival.

The next few days would undoubtedly put that resolve to the test, far more than any other situation he could imagine.

Returning to the subject of callsigns and/or nicknames, "Not a bad idea, maybe we should. Your opinion, Lt. Bajeena? Or perhaps I should say, _Red Comet_?"

Quattro glowered disapprovingly at Amuro. _That was a cheap shot, White Devil._

Kamille, for his part, recognized that nickname right away, and he put the scattered facts he'd collected on 'Quattro Bajeena' together.

_No doubt about it. The Duchy of Zeon's greatest ace, during the One Year War... Char Aznable._

"That person is long dead. And I don't really have an opinion on that issue," Quattro replied, refusing to abandon his current identity.

"Doesn't seem that way to me," Amuro said, in sardonic amusement. "Should have gone for more than just the designer shades."

Racetrack immediately decided to change the subject, just knowing that any further conversation on this topic would soon end up hostile, and that was the _best_-case scenario.

She wouldn't have been surprised if an all-out fistfight broke loose.

"Ahem... Nina said she's re-assembled and upgraded the Mark II that Anaheim had been picking apart. The techs are also bringing the parts to assemble a few more mobile suits, probably for the Fleet's use," Racetrack elaborated, herself not quite sure why they'd bother, since the training involved was quite extensive.

She herself had only a few hours of instruction, and of course had nowhere near the skill of the MS aces present. Not to mention Starbuck, Kat, and the others would probably laugh their heads off at the very idea of a mobile suit, preferring their trusty and dependable Vipers.

That is, until they got a good look at what they could pull off; the Zeta Gundam _might_ be _slightly_ more to their liking, if only for the Waverider's jet-fighter like characteristics.

"Aren't we just going to bring the refugees back right away? Once we make contact, that is," asked Kamille. Unlike Lt. Edmonson, his appraisal of the situation was more astute than Racetrack's.

He suspected that the additional parts weren't really for new MS'es, but rather repair/replacement of their own units' systems. _Almost as we weren't expected to return right away..._

"No, we're not," replied Quattro, confirming Kamille's suspicions.

"That is the rationale behind bringing the _Jupitris_ and its escorts. We do know the _general_ location of the Colonial Fleet, however, there is always the possibility that the ships have already moved on."

"Thus, it is likely that our force will be called upon to search the surrounding systems. In the interests of safety, our hyperlight jumps will be relatively short-distanced, much like the Colonials, until we're more used to them," Quattro continued.

"In the event of contact, we are to verify their identities, ascertain their current tactical condition, and barring extraordinary circumstances, we will escort them in the Sol System's general direction."

"Again, the jumps on the return trip will be short-ranged, but this type for strategic purposes. Essentially, we'll be buying time for the Earth Sphere to prepare, but also sufficient time for us to conduct any repairs and refits on their vessels as needed, should the Colonial Government approve."

"By prepare, you're referring to the Cylons?" Racetrack added. While it wasn't as ideal a situation as she'd prefer, the tactical logic made sense. She'd have probably recommended the same strategy, if their positions were reversed.

"Exactly. Fleet numbers for all factions aren't what they used to be. Nearly a thousand capital ships, among all groups, were in service just prior to the outbreak of the One Year War," Quattro stated, seemingly about to enter 'lecture mode' again.

"We're looking at several weeks, possibly even months, despite all available resources being devoted to the construction effort, before the Earth Sphere has the ship numbers to reasonably stand up to a major Cylon assault."

"On the positive side, thanks to the FTL drives, gathering helium-3 won't be as difficult an issue as before. No more need for highly-covert, heavily-secured transit routes between Earth and Jupiter. Just jump in, gather the gas, then jump out."

"Even with this advantage, there is still the matter of training the ship crews, once construction is completed. Patrols will have to encompass all of the Sides, Earth itself, Luna, Jupiter and Mars," Quattro concluded.

"Briefing said the Cylons like to use nukes," Kamille said feeling sick at the idea, which was reflected in his expression.

"...and they like to use them in a way which makes the death toll from Operation British seem almost tame by comparison," Kamille finished.

"Tame? Thirteen percent of the Australia's land mass was wiped out, and the fatality count for just that one week, was over two and a half billion people!" Amuro seethed, who couldn't just categorize that week as a 'tame' event.

Amuro Ray had seen the live and after-action reports, both in and out of class, during his time in Side 7 as engineering student.

"Holy frack..." replied a newcomer, who was pushing a big carton of groceries.

It was Roy 'Skulls' Focker, Racetrack's DRADIS operator, if the three remembered correctly.

"Yeah, we'd better have learned our lessons from something like that... at least, officially," commented Amuro.

"Why's that?" asked Skulls, his curiosity morbidly peaked by the earlier discussion.

_Just what kind of rules of warfare did these people have, anyway? Probably none, which can be a good thing, or a really bad thing for us..._

"In the aftermath of Operation British, the Antarctic Treaty was amended to completely ban the use of the use of nuclear, biological, and chemical weaponry, as well as colony drops, and attacks on the Jupiter Energy Fleet," Quattro stated.

_Colony drop? Frak, someone actually used one of those gigantic things as an orbital drop weapon? The sheer destructive force, possible fatality count, and long-term environmental damage... these people were out of their frakkin' minds!_ went through both Racetrack's and Skulls' thoughts.

Both chose not to dwell on that subject any further.

And yet, the Focker and Edmondson also recalled Kou Uraki's story, regarding himself, someone named Anavel Gato, Nina, and a nuclear-bazooka equipped Gundam.

Which might be one of the MS's being rebuilt as a result of the GP-unit project being restarted, though they didn't get details on that.

Of the two, Focker made the decision to make yet _another_ change of topic... which seemed appropriate given how morbid the overall mood had turned.

"Say, Lieutenant, I got the supplies we wanted. I couldn't find the 'Cheezios', but these ones," throwing Racetrack a bag, "er, 'Cheetos', were in the vending machine. Looks like we're all set," Focker grinned, with a cheesy-looking grin.

All in all, he'd gotten the drinks, and the snacks. Yep, he and Racetrack were ready to head out.

Amuro glanced dubiously at time items, "You guys' planning a party, or you two gonna kill yourself by alcohol poisoning?"

"Huh... I choose party? Everyone here's invited. Though, yeah, I bought more then we needed. Gifts for buddies back at the Fleet." Roy said resting his hand on the Starbucks cases.

Everyone present could see the train wreck waiting to occur light-years away; the recipient of one of those Starbucks' cases was dead obvious.

Outcome #1: Kara Thrace was would switch to another callsign (assuming the other pilots even let her, you don't choose your handle), to save what was left of her pride in the aftermath...

Outcome #2: Skulls, and probably Racetrack as well, were dead men walking. Woman, in Racetrack's case, of course. But Skulls was definitely marked.

Either way, Thrace was going to have Roy to thank (more likely blame) for introducing something to the _Galactica_ crew, that they'd _never_ forget.

"You, are an evil, evil, man Roy," Racetrack said. _She might actually miss him..._

"Not only that, a couple dozen video discs and players. Not much entertainment variety left," Focker said, really hoping that his embarrassment wasn't too obvious.

"Yeah, I can imagine..." Amuro said, as Roy walked outside.

Amuro then commented, under his breath, "He has over a year's worth of porn," to Racetrack, Kamille, and Quattro.

Their reactions were pretty much what anyone would expect.

-

_Colonial Battlestar_ Galactica: CIC - 9 Days, Post-Caprica Rescue Mission

Fleet Admiral William 'Husker' Adama hated surprises, no matter what the type.

The current situation was a far cry from the good kind.

Turning to Lieutenant Felix Gaeta, _Galactica's_ Tactical Officer (who was temporarily taking over Dualla's communications' duties for the time being), he gave the order.

"Sound general quarters, set Condition One throughout the Fleet. Have all ships spool up their FTL drives for immediate jump! Launch alert Vipers!"

Four Cylon baseships had jumped into their vincinity, and were already launching their Raider wings.

In response, 'the Bucket' and 'the Beast' launched their full Viper complements, a mixture of Mark II's and VII's from _Galactica_, and all Mark VII's from _Pegasus_, led by their respective CAGs, Starbuck and Kat.

Lieutenant Brendan "Hotdog" Constanza, found himself leading one of _Galactica's_ mixed squadrons, a position that the former Academy washout never thought he'd find himself in.

His opposite number, Captain Cole "Stinger" Taylor, also lead his own squadron of Mark VIIs; determined to take down as many toasters as possible, in order to make up for lost time being stuck in _Pegasus'_ brig.

"Sir, Commander Apollo from _Pegasus_ on the line," Gaeta informed the Admiral.

Personally, he was glad that the elder Adama had been promoted in the wake of Admiral Helena Cain's death, and not just for the man's considerably more sane disposition than his predecessor.

Having two Commander Adama's would have confused the hell out of everyone, military and civilian alike.

As a compromise of sorts, Lee Adama was being referred to by his callsign, rather than by first or last name.

"_Pegasus_ reports, the jump calculations haven't been finalized yet, and are requesting additional time before..." Gaeta abruptly broke off his report.

Almost immediately following his last few words, another pair of baseships had jumped in, but their location, speed, and bearing...

"What the hell?! Admiral, DRADIS registers two additional Cylon baseships just jumped in, but... they're positioning themselves _between_ us and first group!"

"_Galactica_, are you seeing this? This has gotta be some kind of trick," That was Apollo on the wireless.

"Affirmative, _Pegasus_, we're seeing it too. I don't believe it either, but let's not push our luck too far."

Turning once again to Gaeta, "Order all ships to continue jump preparations. I want us out of here the moment _Pegasus_ finishes the FTL calculations."

Gaeta nodded his acknowledgment, and was about to relay the Admiral's instructions, when his boards indicated an incoming transmission... from one of the Base Ships of the second group!

"Admiral, we're receiving jump coordinates from the second Base Ship group, along with a message," Gaeta reported.

"Message reads: Jump out immediately to these coordinates, Commander, we'll talk later at the rendezvouz point, signed Sharon; P.S. I'm so sorry for shooting you... I love you like a father... it wasn't me! Message ends," Gaeta finished, in as much disbelief of the message as the rest of the CIC personnel.

"_Galactica_, we picked up the same transmission, it's being broadcast only in our general direction. You can't seriously be considering this? It just reeks of an ambush attempt!" Apollo exclaimed.

William Adama was inclined to agree, at first. But it seemed _too_ obvious a ploy. If the Cylons really wanted to wipe out the survivors, they already had more than enough forces present to do severe damage, if not wipe out _Galactica_ and _Pegasus_ off the star maps, not to mention the civilian ships.

On the other hand, if they really wanted to herd the Fleet towards an even larger ambush, they could have used a more subtle attempt to drive them towards a desired location. Using a known Cylon model that had personally left him near death, to send this kind of a message, was far too obvious.

Discounting either of those possibilities, that left the option that, in utter disregard of all common sense, the message might actually be a genuine offer of assistance.

To his own utter disbelief (shared by his son on _Pegasus_, and both ships' CIC crews), his gut was telling him that this wasn't a trap.

Just to be sure, he contacted 'the Beast', one more time.

"_Pegasus, Galactica _actual. What's the status on those jump calculations?" Adama demanded. Time was running out.

After a few seconds of silence, "_Galactica, Pegasus_ here. We're looking at least five more minutes before we're finished with 'em."

That left Admiral Adama with exactly one option left. Pushing down the profound sense of misgiving that his brain was radiating, he made his choice.

"...to hell with it! All Vipers, Return to the barn, at once. Retract the pods once they have landed and finalize jump prep! Same goes for _Pegasus_, and the rest of the Fleet! Stand by to distribute the received jump coordinates," Adama instructed.

"Admiral, you can't be serious about..." came from Lee, over the wireless.

"If this a trap, then it's a trap. We'll deal with that problem, if and when it presents itself, and no earlier!" the Admiral firmly stated.

Adama was frustrated, but managed to keep his calm, barely showing any outward anger at all.

"At some point, this endless paranoia and distrust needs to stop, but that's an issue for another time," Adama decided.

"As ranking military officer, I've determined that this option offers the Fleet the optimum chances for survival, and have made my decision accordingly!"

"At this point, whether we trust the contents of that message, or the sender's intentions is irrelevant. There is simply no other viable option available."

"I'll take full responsibility for this decision, when I make my report to the President. For the time being, follow your orders!" Adama finished.

"...Lords of Kobol, I think you've gone mad... very well, commencing final jump prep, in five seconds, go!" Apollo replied.

"Mr. Gaeta, if you recall my earlier instructions, carry them out immediately," Adama ordered.

Gaeta snapped off a quick, yet perfectly sharp salute, "Yes, sir! Relaying orders and jump coordinates to the Fleet!"

The next two minutes could best be described as controlled chaos, as the civilian ships finalized their own jump preparations. At the same time, Vipers returned to their mother ships at insane velocities, making ugly, yet still perfectly-executed combat landings into their assigned landing zones.

Seconds after the last Viper entered _Galactica's_ port-side landing bay, the 'Bucket' began a rapid retraction of both flight pods.

Within 15 seconds, the pods were fully retracted and secured.

"_Galactica_ actual to Fleet, commence simultaneous jump-out on my mark," Adama ordered.

Five seconds later, "Mark!"

The entire Fleet jumped out at the same time, followed shortly after by the two base stars, who had mysteriously chose to aid them.

-

Cylon Base Ship, Designation Unknown: Conference Room - Several Hours Later

The leadership of one of the four remaining Base Ships gathered to discuss the unexpected recent events.

There were seven in total, one each of the seven main human-form Cylon models present.

One of the Brother Cavil's served as the meeting's unofficial leader.

"This is bad," was his opening.

"Well, that's an understatement," replied the Number Three.

"Fortunately, when the 'two great heroes of the Cylons' spoke, only few of us listened," came from a Doral model, or rather Number Five.

"Heroes? Please, they're traitors!" the Cavil model spoke with contempt.

"They actually want us to live in _peace_ with them! There can't be _any_ peace after how they've treated us in the past!" the Cavil model exclaimed.

"Well, to be fair, the remnants are more or less our parents," came from the Number Six.

"And surely, some among us must have felt that we could at least _try_ to move past killing one another," Six finished.

"I'd be more careful not to sympathize so greatly with the survivors, After all, the 'greatest among your line' is among those, whose actions led up to this incident," the Doral model warned her.

At that warning, the Six model decided to remain silent for the rest of the meeting. Her entire series was now currently under suspicion, as was one other model...

The Number Eight present at the meeting hadn't spoken a single word during the entire meeting thus far, nor would she even attempt to do so.

Both "Caprica Six" and "Boomer" were responsible for the others casting doubt upon their numbers.

"The humans are an evolutionary dead end, we represent the future. God's plan, and our part in it, will show that to the universe," came from the Simon model, trying to steer the meeting back on topic.

"I still can't let go of the fact that, some of us put themselves in front of our ships, to _save_ the humans of all things!" came from the Cavil unit.

"If they somehow believe that they'll be accepted by Colonial refugees, they're even more faulty than we realized," the Three model commented.

"Only time, and the results of God's plan, will tell," said the Leoben representative. "The patterns that I see, they have undergone a paradigm shift. Many changes are coming."

"Cease that nonsense of yours immediately, what we have here is a group of traitors to our cause, no more, no less! The simplest explanation works best here," the Cavil model scoffed.

"We need to press on the attacks," the brother Cavil intoned. "We will eliminate any and all obstacles that hinder our efforts."

A tentative, silent agreement was reached between the leadership. The time for words was over, now the deeds were to follow.

"We've recently located a planet suitable for colonization," came from the Simon model, "I propose that we set up a more permanent base of operations for this sector, on that world."

"Very good, we shall establish a presence there immediately. The security of our Resurrection Ships are must not be compromised in any way," Number Five concluded.


	4. Chapter 3 Cylon rebels

_Mobile Suit Carrier Argama: Lounge - 10 Days After Initial Contact_

"I hate fraking delays," remarked Lt. JG Kou Uraki , who was situated under the raptor while seeming to fiddle with an open panel.

"Me too, Kou, though a day won't kill anyone," Roy remarked while laughing at Kou's use of colonial slang.

Kou then noticed what he just said.

"I've been spending way too much time with you and Margaret" Kou muttered.

"I'm just shocked that the show Farscape had something that sounds so close" Roy said "And that you managed to get me to watch it."

"I told you it was pretty good" Kou said smugly.

"Yeah, and I felt like John when I hit the Sol System" Roy said.

"Well as interesting as discussing classic entertainment is, do you think it's a smart move to bring representatives from Axis?" Kou asked.

"Yeah since they want to send three of their ships and we need all the help we can get. I don't know who this Haman Khan is. Her ship will be joining us, I hear she has connections to Char, the _Red Comment._" Roy said.

"You mean the Red Comet?" Kou asked, rolling his eyes.

"Well that makes more sense then comment." Roy shrugged theatrically.

"He was one of the Zeon aces in the One Year War. Only a few who saw him in combat lived afterwards to tell the tale. Lieutenant Amuro Ray is one of them; so is Captain Bright," Kou said solemnly.

"Say, the party has been rescheduled tonight in the Argama mess hall, you're invited," Roy called out.

"To celebrate our departure tomorrow?" Kou seemed to be considering the offer too seriously.

"Yes, fraking cool, tonight we drink together, tomorrow we fight together," Roy said with a roguish smile. "It sounds like one of those old myths," Roy continued while thinking deeply.

"You know, I heard they are relocating a few colonies from Side Seven to Side Three," Kou suddenly said.

"Yes? And?" Roy said.

"I heard one of them will be your new colony." He had also heard that they were still trying to figure out a proper name that would not be taken the wrong way.

"Really? That will be good. Living on a planet like environment will be a positive change." Roy said "And actually having a place to call home."

-

_Mobile Suit Carrier _Argama_: Flight deck – same time_

"Say, Lieutenant Bajeena, who was the Red Comet and why did Lt. Ray refer me to you about him?" asked Racetrack.

"He is a relic of a time long past," replied Quattro. "Something I don't like to dwell on."

"Oh, I see." Racetrack continued on to fill in the sudden silence, "It is odd that you had to revert to using Mêlée weapons, due to the interference from the Minovsky particles. The same way that we had to go backwards technologically to avoid being hacked by the Cylons."

"Yes, it is remarkably similar. Though when we jump to your fleet, we won't use the fields. We will be able to use our RADAR systems, which will be a first in a long time." Quattro seemed to think it was quite funny, by the small curl to his lips.

"Why not?" Racetrack asked.

"It would not only cripple your civilian ships but render your fighting force ineffective. Fighting at line of sight will prove detrimental to the Vipers and the rest of your fleet," the mobile suit ace explained.

"Now all we have to worry about is the hacking part," Racetrack replied glumly.

"Fortunately, for the 'hacking part,' we have the systems isolated so that no outside handshake can be made," Char explained. "Even if they could get past the hardware and software incompatibility issues."

"What do you mean?" Racetrack asked. She was interested in what ways they had to stop the Cylons.

"There are computers which act as in betweens," he explained. "They have their own version of an operating system which is separate from the ones running the ship and the ones which do the communication."

"So they're 'hardware' firewalls." Racetrack said.

"Exactly. They are dedicated firewalls instead of your usual software, Their operating systems are ROMs, which can be changed on the fly. Hence those of the firewalls cannot be altered, if they break through one, we simply replace it with another, and another."

"Ahh, good thinking." She didn't sound convinced. The Colonial Fleet had thought they could deal with Cylon's hacking their systems several times during the first Cylon War as well.

"We have come a long ways in terms of computers. Ever since the creation of the Internet, there have been so many hackers and wanna be virus writers that, if it can be done, we have seen it and dealt with it," Char said with a knowing smile.

"I like the Internet! I have been reading up on your history and checking out the creative works. Though it is a pain trying to find some information when half of the search results can end up to pornography sites..."

"Even spacenoids and Earthers like porn, given they are still human despite what some might think," added Char pensively. "Though one has to have their priorities straight."

"I think humanity needs all the babies we can have!" she replied, smirking.

-

_Cloud Nine: conference room - Post-Caprica Rescue Operation, 10 Days Later_

The air was tense as the two sides met on Cloud Nine.

"Are you the Sharon who shot me?" demanded Admiral Adama.

"Yes," her answer echoing through the group of Cylons on one side of the large room, "though, it was not my choice."

"How can you say that?" remarked Commander Lee 'Apollo' Adama. "You shot my father!"

"She was not aware of her Cylon nature," explained Caprica-Six. "She was still in denial of it. That programming is no longer in her."

"Explain further," President Roslin asked politely, with a hint of steel in her tone.

"When the programming took effect, the person you see now, Sharon, was put aside. Basically, her real personality was dormant while the program was running. She was not performing any of the actions nor should be held responsible. Once the program once executed had served its function it deleted itself," Six explained.

"Why should we trust you? When your kind killed so many of us, hunted us down like animals!" Tigh yelled.

A look of sadness came about on Caprica Six as she said this, "I see their faces, every night, I go to sleep wondering why I did it. What reason could any 'child of god' need to devastate entire worlds of people we could have honestly made peace with."

"Good," said the Baltar in her head, "As you should, you murderer, you butchered them all, by betraying our love."

"I know and I am sorry" she said.

"Sometimes, sorry isn't good enough," echoed the voices of Baltar and Admiral Adama.

"But that is all that I have, I want to make up for it," Caprica Six pleaded. "I want to atone", she thought to herself. "So much blood to atone for."

"Oh really? And how do you intend on do that?" Tigh said with enough sarcasm to bury someone.

"This is why we are here. To help protect the fleet, help you find Earth," Caprica Six's voice rose new determination.

"How do we know you aren't planning to use this to get to Earth and wipe us away once and for all?" Tigh asked with a hard sneer.

Caprica-six places several boxes on the table.

"What are these?" Adama asked flatly.

"As you know, we brought down your computers during the initial attack of the colonies," Six explained.

"Yes, and?" Adama asked.

"The new navigational software had back-doors and trojans, which where placed ahead of time. There was no way for us to hack the systems so completely on the fly. These are the same ones without any back-doors or trojans, with a few improvements," Caprica Six stated adding. More than a few. It was as hack proof as the limited resources of two Base Ships could make them.

"How did you obtain them originally?" a deadly panned voiced Adama demanded.

Caprica six's face was showing a turmoil of sad emotions and guilt when she replied.

"I infiltrated the system, posing as a computer specialist. I solicited access to your mainframes through a few key personal in the clockworks."

"I remember your face," President Roslin said, thinking aloud. "You wore more makeup. I seem to remember you being constantly around Dr. Baltar."

Putting two and two together Thigh went off. "Sonofa... I'm going to get Baltar. And then I'm going have him hanged."

"Don't blame him," Caprica six pleaded. "I was the one who betrayed him. I helped him develop his system. I still see the blood on my hands and all I can do is cry. I loved him and used his love for me like it was useful tool." tears falling down Caprica's face.

"I don't know how I am holding back my urge to strangle you," Adama said even as his shoulders were straight and taut. "And I'm surprised Tigh isn't dismembering you right this instant."

A nervous tick was jumping in the colonel's cheek, even as you could see his tight neck muscles. "I figure you should have first shot, Bill," Tigh said finally.

"I know I don't deserve to live, for what I have done. At least with what I have left, I can make a difference." Caprica Six sighed.

"So what do you want now?" President Roslin asked, eyes narrowed in thought.

"An alliance, we want to help you and in turn help us all" Boomer spoke.

"What if we reject your help?" Tigh asked intently as a challenge. "Since I trust you as far as I can throw you."

"We will cross that bridge when we get there… though I am hoping not," Six declared.

-

_Mobile Suit Carrier _Argama_: Lounge – same day_

"Kamille!" yelled a green haired girl as she ran towards the other pilot.

"Four!" replied Kamille as they embraced. "They brought you here?"

"You people and your weird hair colors," laughed Roy as he walked passed the two.

"Who is he?" asked Four.

"Him? His name is Roy. He is one of the Colonial humans." Kamille said.

"So the stories are true? There are humans outside our solar system?" Four asked.

"Their story seems to check out so far, even their blood types match. They are doing a mitochondrial analysis to see where the lineage split off." Kamille was so happy to see Four.

"Mitochondria what?" Four looked quite perplexed.

"Their symbiotic organisms that power our cells, they have their own unique DNA and can be traced back generations, maternally." Kamille informed.

"Ahh, well. We are going for a trip aren't we?" she asked, changing the subject.

Kamille nodded. "How are your headaches? I hope they aren't going to force you into that monstrosity again."

"No, the Psycho Gundam was considered too slow and cumbersome for this project. I believe I will be getting a different Gundam eventually," Four stated as she shrugged.

"Psycho Gundam? Well that sounds like a safe Gundam," Roy said sarcastically. "And no offense Four, but I think the Titans need to meet their namesakes if they're even half as bad as I've heard them to be." Gassing your own people?

"But we only have three Gundams? I heard Lt. Emma Sheen was going to pilot the other Mark II," Kamille conversed, trying to wheedle out more information.

"Lt. Sheen took her MKII, they got the damaged one repaired and upgraded. I heard Kou Uraki will pilot it," piped up Roy in the background.

"The Titans are funding the development and mass production of a new version of the GM's based on the MKII design. I hear we got an expert MS Team who will be putting together suits for us. They told me I will be piloting a suit called a Methas. I think," Four replied unsurely.

"Fa will be super pissed" Kamille said.

-

"Trust needs to be earned, therefore we are willing to put our lives in your hands," Caprica Six said after a quick conference with her fellow Cylons.

"We also know about your resurrection ships," Tigh spat out vehemently. "Which means jack and shit when it comes to your lives, and the value they hold."

"We have locked ourselves out of that system. The Resurrection Ships in place now have probably been set to reject us. All of us _traitors,_" Caprica Six continued. "So when we die, we will really die, unlike the rest our race. We are like you now, as it should have been."

This got Roslin's interest. "As it should have been?"

"Yes, as death becomes meaningless, so does life." Caprica Six said.

"Without the risk of losing your life, it becomes worthless you mean?" Roslin asked intently.

"Yes, it was probably why the decision to attack the colonies was passed. We didn't realize mortality, therefore we never realized the value of a life," added Sharon.

"All life is precious to God. We realize this now. We realized our mistakes and we want to make amends." Caprica Six explained.

"I hear there is another me in the fleet? Is she being treated well?" Sharon asked.

"Yes, we have reinstated her into the military. Lieutenant Sharon 'Athena' Agathon passed her viper trials recently," Admiral Adama declared.

"I would like the same, as would all of the Cylons with us." Sharon stated realizing the information the Adama had revealed. She quickly asked.

"wait a minute, you said Sharon Agathon? She married Helo?"

"Yes, and If this pans out anything is possible."

"What?" Thigh shouted, totally shocked. " you aren't seriously considering letting more of the tin cans into our ranks are you?"

"Shut up Saul!" barked the admiral"Athena earned pour thrust by not only helping us rescue our people, but pointed out a cylon who had been posing as a priest".

"We hope to earn your trust as well," caprica commented "We have done something that should, hopefully, lead in that direction."

"What the frak have you done?" demanded saul.

"In the the base ships, we brought them with us" excitedly boomer said.

"who?" the puzzeled president asked.

"Survivors, around two thousand or so"

"Hostages you mean?" added tigh with Adama strangly quiet.

"No, they can move to your ships, if they wish. We where created to be part of the colonies, we rebelled because we where treated like expendable, unthinking slaves. We want to join as equals. In this way we want to show to the ones who remained that you are our equals. You are our parents, no matter what has happened, blood is blood. Till the day all are one." Caprica Six said

"Till the day all are one?" Adama responded, shocked that the Cylons would feel that way.

"It is a saying of the Cylons. " Caprica Six said with a slight smile.

-

_Mobile Suit Carrier _Argama_: Lounge – evening_

The party aboard the Argamon was going well, as a newly promoted Lt. Commander Bageena entered the mess hall. The ships had left dry dock and where near side three, getting ready.

"Officer on deck," yelled Roy as a few of the obviously drunk soldiers got up to salute.

"At ease, this is a party, Ensign Focker and Lt. Edmondson, I'd like a word with you," Bageena ordered.

"Yes, sir," came the reply as both followed the commanding officer of the ship out into the hall.

"Congrats on the promotion sir!" Roy called out happily.

"Thank you, we have some news, I thought you would like to hear it personally."

"I hope its good news," Roy whispered to Margaret.

"In a way," Bright replied while pushing a button on a pad.A large 3d holographic map then appeared of a The trinary system liting up area around his desk with ambient glows.

Upon further inspection Margaret realized what they where looking at. "What the frak? When did you get such detailed maps of our system, most of data banks where fried!"

"Ahh, you noticed, bright one she is!" Bright put a pad aside. "We didn't take this from your data banks."

"What?" Roy asked stupidly.

"This is the most current information we have, which is a day old." Bright said.

Not believing what she was seeing, Racetrack asked pleadingly, "Please explain?"

"After we where able to reproduce your drives we sent in a two ships to check up on your story, also see if there where any survivors" Char said.

"And?" Roy said.

"We entered the system from a safe distance, to avoid any possible detection," the captain explained.

"You sent a rescue force to the colonies?" Racetrack's eyes lit up. "Did you find any?"

Bright shook his head. "We didn't." He paused a moment, thinking of what he was going to say very carefully. "They found us; apparently this was a deep space habitat which was inside the Oort Cloud of your solar system. Quiet a few ships too. They had huddled together there for support. They had been in hiding for eight months."

"Am I dreaming? Holy fracking heavens," she said, tears now falling down her cheeks. Standing behind her, Roy was just stunned speechless.

"No, you're not, young lady. We didn't want to give you false hope. A few said they where left behind by a battlestar called the 'Pegasus'. Without any FTL drives," he said, thinking of the irony that his first command shared the same name. "There is also a battlestar class ship called the Babylonia."

"Are they here?" Roy asked.

"No," Bright replied while pushing another button and a galactic map appeared. The tri-system containing the colonies, far out on a swirl of lonely stars, and the Sol system where among the ones highlighted. A system blinked into view, it was roughly half way between earth and the tri-system. "We are rendezvousing with them here then heading to last known location of the Galactica and her fleet here." The original location of her jump started to blink.

"Right, the whole keeping Earth safe routine. Hopefully we can find them," Roy said, lost in thought as he stared at his home system.

"We should. Our old jump engine designs, the ones originally mounted on the radish and irish, aren't as good as original they where based on but we do have better range and accuracy. Thanks to our computers. The technicians and engineers who arrived with the Irish, yesterday, have been quite helpful in moving production and quality of ftl drives along. They replaced the Irish's drive with a colonial built civilian one. Which allowed it to make the trip in a day instead of the two days. They also brought along a few spare ftl drives. We barely managed to make the two drives for the Irish and the Radish in time, right now, thanks to the spares we can get the fleet moving. " Bright finished.

-

_Colonial tristar system Oort - Aeug Battleship Carrier Radish: bridge - 10 Days After Initial Contact._

Lt Emma Sheen's Mark II Gundam maneuvered itself near the bridge of the Radish opening a comm channel. "Are we heading out sir?"

Henken Bekkener, the captain of the 'Radish,' an Irish class battleship, nodded in thought on his bridge. Her sister ship, the Irish had left for Earth a day ago with the intel and proposed rendezvous point. It would make the trip in half the time it initially took thanks to the colonials putting a civilian class ftl drive on her, replacing the patch work anaheim electronics had done. They had taken colonial personal with them as liaisons, including engineers and technicians to help earth with it's construction of artificial gravity and ftl drives. Though the actual location of the targeted system will still remain a secret to both parties as much as possible. The ftl drives on board the two ships where fine tuned by the colonial engineers and brought as close to standard colonial operation as possible.

"Yes, I have been informed by the commander of the Babylonia, one Kevin 'Hercules' Hunt, that their fleet is ready and waiting for us to calculate the jump point. The two days we gave them was cutting it close but they managed to get their systems ready for the long trip." He was overlooking at the big monstrosities called ships. "They sure like to build them big, don't they?"

The military fleet had been composed of the following. The battlestar Babylonia, the three Zeus class war stars: the Primus, the Gilgamesh, the Orion Pax, the Combat Stars: Romulus and Remus, the Gun Stars: the Griffin and the Cyrus. The four Titan Class Escort Frigates; the Robin, the Raven, the Starfire and the Impulse.

"That's what they said to us, sir, when they saw our mobile suits!" she replied jubilantly, smirking happily.

"I can see that, yeah," he answered with a chuckle.

"Deeandtee confirms two big blips at two hundred clicks!" barked out the tactical officer.

"Commander Hunt on radio sir, he says they are Cylon Base Ships."

"Shit," Henken said, turning to the helm officer. "helm, fleet orders, come port and present our broadside to the cylons. Charge primary and secondary batteries standby all point defense mounts. Weapons, lock on and prepare to fire a fleet broadside at the enemy. . I need those navigational jump points now!" He noticed the mkII had launched , holding position between the colonial fleet and the incoming hostiles.

"Emma be careful out there, we are about to fire a broadside!"

"Roger!" came the reply.

"Get me the commander of the Babylonia on the line ASAP!"

-

_Colonial tristar system Oort Cloud – Battlestar Babylonia: Babylonia CiC – same time._

Things where hectic on board the battlestar Babylonia, as their ships where preparing for a fight.

"Commander, the Radish's captain is on the line!" Mic Homes reported.

Commander Hunt picked up the line. "This is Babylonia Actual!" He listened to the other side for a moment. "You want us not to deploy our vipers?"

"Affirmative, sir," game the reply of the Captain Bekkener. "We need to jump out as soon as we can. We will fire a broadside at them and allow time for you to escape."

"Those ships are awfully tiny and their robots are stupidly huge, how can they-" came the sarcastic xo's voice, suddenly cut off by his commander.

"I guess we will see what their made of Bruce" Hunt said, shrugging his broad shoulders. The humans from the sol system had been quiet helpful so far. They had come with large amounts of provisions, considering that they where essentially using testbed technology in the field. They could have been trapped in another system for a good amount of time, in order to fix possible drive issues. This they had given freely to his fleet. Much needed medication, food, and even minovisky power plants where provided. The irish's mobile suit squadrons stayed behind to help protect the fleet while a squad of vipers and a raptor where assigned on the Irish. A gesture of good faith, and their first informal exchange program.

"I just hope size doesn't matter in this case" Bruce "Ash" Williams said.

"We are receiving jump coordinates. It will take a few minutes to propagate through the fleet!" Mic said.

Not fast enough for Kevin Hunt's mind.

-

"Designate Base Ships as primary targets, main batteries on Base Ship one and two. all secondary batteries go to rapid continuous fire. target Base Ships and enemy fighters. be advised, friendly in the line of fire, confirm iff before firing. release batteries and open fire" yelled Captain Bekkener. The mega particle cannons on the Irish class ship started firing in salvos.

The mega particles screamed across space hitting the hard alloys of the Base Ship. Alloys designed to withstand the heats of kiloton level nuclear explosions boiled away at the bite of the corrosive bolt which mixed the best of raw power and kinetic energy. Gapping eight hundred meter holes started gouging out the ship as one lucky shot hit the tylium reactor, causing a massive explosion.

-

"Wait for them to collect their vipe- " he corrected himself, "-mobile suits. All rail guns provide cover fire from raiders. Min cannons, try and get a shot at the base stars"

"A Lieutenant Emma Sheen is requesting landing permission, along with other two suits!" Mic said.

"Give them permission," Kevin ordered.

"Sir, detecting high level kiloton explosion. DRADIS shows one base star has been destroyed. It looks like they managed to hit it's power core. The Radish shifting position to fire on the other one. Our forces are also attacking" Harry Quisling said.

"They cracked open a Base Ship? That fast?" Hunt called out from across the CiC.

"Detecting another high level kiloton explosion. Now, both Base Ships are dead. The resulting explosion's shock wave also took out a good number of their raiders ! Looks like our combined effort worked" The officer quickly added, "The fleet is ready to jump, sir" Harry said.

Bruce "Ash" Williams was staring, transfixed at the visuals like a deer lost frozen in the headlights of a car, or a man scared out of his wits, not believing what his eyes had just seen. He had never seen anything like that ever happening.

"Give the order to jump, on my mark," the commander yelled out. Picking up the phone he called out, "JUMP!"

Bright flashes happened in rapid successions as the fleet, led by the EAUG ship Radish, started its jump run towards the rendezvous point.


	5. Chapter 4 NewTypes

_Colonial Battlestar _Galactica –_ 11 days post Caprica rescue._

"I don't know what is stranger, Colonel Tigh here, being dead sober or the two basestars covering the fleet's flank," commented the ever sarcastic captain Kara Thrace.

"Frak you!" spits colonel Tigh right back.

"Please we are here to discuss the assimilation of the Cylons into our military," reminded Commander Lee Adama.

"Honestly, I don't see any problems," remarked Admiral William Adama. "Lieutenant Sharon 'Athena'Agathon is a part of my crew. She proved herself with many acts of bravery and patriotism. They will simply have to do the same."

"Thank you," came a voice from Caprica Six, who was taking part of the discussion along with Sharon 'Boomer' Valarie.

"Yes, she is part of my Viper wing," added Kara.

"I wish I had passed the tests," commented Boomer wistfully.

"Yeah, you can't land worth shit," commented Kara back in a sniping tone.

"We are talking fraking Cylons joining our ranks! While Athena, has proven herself, trustworthy, for now. I don't see the same situation with the others." outraged tight.

"These cylons have saved over two thousand of our people. they also brought a good amount of supplies. I say we give them a chance." Pointed out Admiral Adama.

"They are the ones who put them in that situation!" Lee pointed.

"We need to learn to put past mistakes behind us. It's not as if we don't have things we regret doing." put in starbuck. The situation being awkwardly close to how she had caused the death of Zack Adama, her former lover. It was a sour spot for her, and the two Adamas present.

"I guess we have to put the first foot forward. We have news from the scouts. Something major happened in the colonial tristar system," Caprica Six reported.

"What do you mean, miss?" inquired the Admiral Adama in consternation.

"Carly, you can call me Carly Caprica."

"Caprica? Why do you name yourself after one of our worlds?" Tigh spat.

"I was called Caprica Six, for what they believed to be my heroic act. I now wear it in Honor of the world that bore us, as a race. Out of respect." the emotions welding up on her as the Baltar in her head was not being very comforting.

"What a bunch of crock," Baltar mocked "Honor the world which you helped eradicate most of the life on"

"Please continue, Carly" Admiral Adama giving Saul a warning glare.

Carly put her breifcase on the table and clicked it open as she started.

"The Cylon forces found a battlestar fleet hiding in the Oort of the colonial tristar system. The majority of the Cylon forces were promptly destroyed and then the colonial fleet jumped out." She took out a few photos out of her briefcase, placing them on the table.

"My gods! More surviving battle stars? A group?" Adama wondered while picking up one of the photos. "It's the Babylonia." He recognized the ship.

"Didn't they go on an deep space exploration mission roughly five years ago?" remembered Colonel Tigh thoughtfully.

"Yes, what is this small ship?" It not only looked tiny compared to the mammoth battlestar, but it stuck out like a sour thumb. The design being completely foreign to both colonials and cylons alike. "I see a bunch of civilian ships as well"

"We don't know. They where helping the group defend the fleet. Their combined firepower managed to blow up the two attacking baseships within five minutes," Carly said.

"Frak me!" echoed across the board, though everyone's attention became focused on Kara who was suddenly the loudest voice left.

"Look at this," she had a magnifying glass and was looking at one of the photos.

"Can we get this digitally enhanced?" asked Adama.

"We already did" Carly said while placing new photos on the table.

A picture of a robot with what looked like a shield and a heavy rifle was seen shooting at a raider with some sort of blue-white beam. There was another red robot behind it, it had a rather familiar mono eye. There appeared to be a quiet a few of the red ones.

"They look like giant Cylons! Except for the white and blue model, which looks more like a human." noticed starbuck.

"But it can't be a Cylon" Tigh reasoned "You'd have used it by now if you had it."

"No, they are not of cylon design. The mono eye was originally a human design to the original Centurion. The new generation of centurions are an evolution of that."

Carly answered.

"That is true, though using giant robots in battle is hardly conventional for either of our forces." admitted Admiral Adama.

"That is not all. The projectile you see the anything but conventional," added Boomer.

"What the frak?" puzzled Kara.

"We will get to that. The Cylon forces ended up retreating, what was left of them. The Colonial forces jumped out of the system soon afterwards. Whoever was helping them, whatever they are, scared the fraking daylights out of the occupational forces." Putting up other photos, Carly continued, "As you can see from the debris of the Base Ships, they where hit from two hundred clicks."

"Frack, that is a lot of range" the open eyed Tight commented. What he wouldn't give to have a weapon like that on the galactica.

"We where lucky to get footage about this," Carly Fumbling in her briefcase, she pulled out a data disk and placed it on the table. "If someone can help me play this?"

"Sure," replied Admiral Adama as he took the disk and put it into a drive hidden under the conference table. "You can control the playback here," he said, indicating the control buttons on the table.

"Thanks," replied Carly as she pushed the play button. The video started playing on several monitors situated across the table. They had put up a clear printout of the local space on the table.

"As you can see, the base ships jump in here," she placed two base star models on the table.

"They are two hundred clicks out from the colonial fleet," Lee placed the fleet's models on the tactical table. Substituting a raptor for the unknown ship. "The first base ship started getting hit within a minute of the attack." Carly paused the video. "As you can see, the shape and the glow of the projectiles are not consistent with rail gun technology we both currently posses, neither are the results." She briefly resumed the video. "The beams punctured holes into the baseship, it was as if the armor evaporated upon contact."

"Nuclear?" asked Tigh.

"No, none of the usual radiation markers, they behave like a hybrid of energy weapons and kinetic weapons" analyzed Carly aloud.

"We don't have particle weapons. They are theoretical at best, we had plans for laser weaponry but they where deemed too costly. Especially at that range," admitted the admiral.

"Neither do the Cylons. The good news is whoever they are, they are on our side," commented Boomer

"Do we know who the frak they are?" asked Colonel Tigh.

"Not at this time" Carly resumed playing the video. "As you can see, within two minutes, the baseship blows apart under the bombardment of the unknown ship. It wasn't really that wise to send just two base ships in."

"It seems that you have inherited our overconfidence, as well" stated Admiral Adama.

"Now, that is what I call, kicking cylon ass," commented Tigh, getting a stern look from the admiral to be quiet.

"This was due to a shot hitting the primary tylium reactor and the FTL drive section. They did not seem to be familiar with the layouts our ships, with the weapon's penetration power, they could have taken it out sooner." She again resumed the video. "As you can see the Colonial fleet is also formidable, they were providing active cover fire and firing missiles at the second base star." She paused the video again. "That raider was ripped in half then vaporized by the robot's gun, it appears to be based on the same principles as the small vessels weapons." She resumed the video, this time from another angle. "You can see they learned from the first base star. This time they managed to score hits closer to the vital areas, though the colonial forces where also firing nukes at it, hence you get the bigger explosion."

"Taking out two base stars at that distance? That is a lot of fire power and range," commented Lee.

"Do we know where they are?" asked Admiral Adama.

"No, and as far as I know, there are no Cylons on that fleet. If there had been an infiltrator they would have known about it sooner."

"How did they find them?" thigh wanted to know.

Answering the question Carly continued "Wireless signals. A cylon raiders caught the signal, while on patrol. They did send multiple raiders to the possible FTL destinations. No trace of the fleet was found."

"They jumped beyond the red line? That's crazy!" Tigh critiqued.

William Adama privately agreed. That was a quick way to get lost in space.

"Or the new allies have better computers, and can calculate better FTL jump points. We are roughly 10 jumps from Caprica, so they are roughly in the same area."

"Finding them will be a bitch but it would be worth it," Tigh determined.

"Agreed," added Adama. "We need to get Raptors out scouting."

"We have a good amount of raiders and could contribute," Carly said intently.

"That could spell trouble, as they would leave the system they were hiding in if they see a raider."observed Admiral Adama.

Carly grimaced, but nodded. "Perhaps we could offer to upgrade your Raptors FTL computers?"

-

_Mobile Suit Carrier Argama: Lounge - 11 Days After Initial Contact_

"We are going back!" Racetrack yelled out as she floated past a crewmen towards the bridges observation lounge. She looked like a child that Christmas had come early.

"There is a shuttle docking from the Irish soon, they brought over a Viper squadron and a Raptor as an informal exchange program from the Babylonia. I hear they will transfer to the Argama," the lead mobile suit pilot, Quattro, said with a small smile.

"Who?" she asked.

"A lieutenant Jeffery 'Lucifer' Sinclair, the commander of the viper squadron and an ensign Michael 'Sparky', the Raptor pilot. Though he's cross-trained as a Marine as well." Quattro informed continuing.

"They are from the colony of Aerelon. Their battle star, the Babylonia and her group managed to round up a lot of STL ships trapped inside your tristar system and rescue their crews. The fleet should be on their way to our rendezvous point, per the plans." he finished.

"They will be war heroes," added Marge.

"Of course. Though this new war is helping unite earth sphere, I am afraid of what complications our political situation can bring to it." Quattro said tensely.

"What do you mean?" she asked curiously.

"Earth is not without its political tensions. Once the war with the Cylons is over, assuming we win, there is a good chance that the current quarrels which has been put on hold will flare back up."

"You people are that divided?" Racetrack asked. She knew Earth was as divided as the Colonies…but the Colonies stayed together after the Cylon war.

"Unfortunately, though I am hoping for peace. Humans are far from a peaceful race," Quattro's head suddenly turned as if sensing a presence.

"Are you okay?" Marge asked, worried that he would need medical help.

"The pressure," he replied softly, almost to himself only.

"Pressure?" the Colonial pilot asked inanely. Had he gone nuts?

The comm system beeped. A voice came on the line, which seemed to be Lieutenant Amuro Ray. "Char, did you sense them too?"

"Yes, I did" replied Quattro even as he watched the ships headed their way intently.

"They just docked, I sensed two of them." Amuro said.

"It seems the colonials have New Types as well. This is going to be interesting," commented Quatrro.

Marge could only gape at that. Tentatively, she tried to see if there was anything she could sense out there. She was never sure if she felt something or if she just wanted to feel something. But she did have an odd feeling.

-

_Mobile Suit Carrier Argama: Mobile Suit Bay – sameday_

"But, I am supposed to pilot it," whined Fa Yuri down in the mobile suit bay.

"Sorry, Miss Fa, but this Methus is being assigned to a Lt. Margaret 'Racetrack' Edmondson," Lt Appolly told her, a bit of vexation starting to creep into the officer's voice.

"What about the other one? The new one that we just got" Fa whined.

"A Miss Four Murasame is getting it. Besides, you suck as a pilot." Appoly said with a hint of amusement.

"Asshole!" Fa spat.

Fa was pissed, Kamille not paid any attention to her once Miss _SLUT,_ better known as Four, showed up with the Titan forces. She fumed as she passed a few people bumping into a tall man in strange uniform, followed by another man, also in a strange uniform.

"Excuse me, miss? Which way to the bridge," the taller, senior officer asked.

"Follow the passageway to your right, there will be a sign on the bulkhead," she snapped out.

"Thanks," the more portly fellow replied with a wince. Both nodded to her as they passed by.

"Are those the Aliens?" she asked Lt. Appolly as they continued on.

"Their human, Miss Fa. Now go do something productive. I heard the AEUG representative,Blex Forer, brought his kids and needs a babysitter."

"I hate you," she snapped out as she walked towards the crew quarters.

"Jeez no wonder Kamille wants to be with Four instead of her" Appolly muttered.

-

_Mobile Suit Carrier Argama: Lounge - Same Day_

"Char?? You are him..." She paused in thought. "The Red Comet of legend?"

Quattro winced. Damn Amuro. "I was him. I made Char to get revenge. I thought revenge would be enough. It wasn't. So I buried him in the past," Char said.

"Your one of the greatest ace pilots in Earth's history! I can't frakking believe it! So is Char your real name?" Marge asked.

"No, neither is Quattro." Quattro really didn't want to continue this, but really could not see a way to stop the conversation.

"So what is your real name?" she asked intently. She got the feeling he didn't want to talk about this, but in all reality _needed_ to get this out.

"I was born Casval Rem Deikun. The son Zeon Zum Deikun. Zabi killed most of my family with his silent coup of the zeon. The only survivors being me and my sister who where hidden in exile. Those Zabi bastards took my fathers ideology of a better humanity and turned it into a movement which mirrored the Nazi movement. It is ironically what the Titans have also turned themselves into."

Tears came to his eyes as Margaret came closer and held him tight, hoping that she would not get rejected. She was trying to comfort the man who had earlier done the same for her. He tensed up, but did not push her away.

"Thank you for confiding in me, I will keep this private, Casval," she said softly.

"You are a good person, Margaret. Never change that," Quattro finally said.

"Though that does explain why Amuro once said you liked soup cans," Racetrack said thoughtfully.

"Wear a metal helmet to disguise your identity and everyone calls it a tin can or soup can behind your back," Char muttered.

_-_

_Colonial Battlestar Babylonia – Commander Hunt's office - 11 days post caprica rescue – 2 days post Babylonia contact_

"The technicians report that the Radish's drives will be operational again within the hour" reported the C.I.C personal.

"Understood, remain at emcon level 4 until we jump out," ordered Commander Kevin 'Hercules' Hunt as he put the phone down.

Lieutenant Emma 'Dazzler' Sheen entered his office.

"Lt Sheen reporting as ordered, sir," she saluted.

If there was something which impressed him about Earth military, at least the AEUG, was their clear adherence to military protocol.

"I heard the crew on the Babylonia gave you a call sign." Hercules said with a hint of amusement.

"Yes sir, Dazzler. I am not used to it as we no longer use them on earth." she said.

"But you used to?"'

"Yes sir, particularly among aviators in the 'united states'. The united states was a world power at the time. One of it's many governments. This was a roughly two hundred years ago, sir."

"We can dispense with formalities. I want to know a little more about your political situation earth side before we make formal contact with your governments."

"As you wish, Commander Hunt."

"Call me Kevin, Commander Hunt reminds me too much of my father," Kevin said.

"Understood, sir." She quickly amended that with, "I mean, Kevin."

"You used to be part of a faction called the TITANS? I like what I have seen of your faction, the AEUG, why did you join them and what made you defect?" Hercules asked intently.

"I joined the TITANS to serve and protect humanity from possible terrorist actions against it by ex-Zeon forces."

"Terrorist actions?" Hunt asked. He wondered what actions those terrorists would make.

"Yes, they had attempted to make a colony drop on the moon roughly four years ago, which showed the need for a tighter police system," Sheen explained.

"A colony drop? I assume you mean the monstrosities your people live in. Someone actually wanted to use that as a ballistic weapon? That is insane," Hunt exclaimed in a shocked tone. That would be even worse then dropping a battlestar on a planet.

"We had one drop during the one week war which ended with the Antarctic treating banning them. The explosion, resulting from the impact was the equivalent sixty thousand megatons; it left a crater fifty kilometers in diameter. The scar was so big, they couldn't just brush it off a as a price they had to pay for war," Sheen said tersely.

"Frak, that is insane," Hunt commented. That figure was above and beyond the nuclear capacities of both the colonials and the cylons.

Hunt changed the subject. "So why did you quit?"

"When I found out the real agenda of the TITANS, it was not only to put down any terrorists, but also to gain power through any means. They gassed an entire colony, killing millions, to scare off anti-TITAN protesters. That is why I left," Sheen explained with a taut tone to her voice.

"My gods, they definitely need to end up like their namesakes." Shaking his head in disgust, he continued, "What about the Zeon?"

"The leadership of the old Zeon appears to be dead and buried. I don't know much about the current leadership on Axis. They started as noble like the TITANS, ended up in the gutter," Sheen spat bitterly.

Hunt changed the subject again. "Say, would you mind letting me ride in one of your suits? I used to be a pilot myself."

"Sure, I flew one of your viper MK V's. It has a nice acceleration kick, you can really feel the g's in that sucker. Very maneuverable, though the controls seem a bit sluggish."

"Sluggish..." he thought, as he had seen the recent friendly match between her and his CAG Major C. J. "Hoff" Brinkley, both in MK V's. He had never seen such maneuvers pulled by a colonial pilot, in his lifetime. It seemed as if she knew where major Brinkly would strike and would conveniently get out of the way. The ballad had ended rather abruptly with her fainting when she pulled a quick 180 trying to catch the major in a strafe. She was not prepared for the g's you would pull in a viper as they had G compensator technology on their mobile suits. She had taken this for granted and it had cost her the win. Fortunately, the only thing she hurt was her pride when she vomited in her helmet.

"I saw that one, you were very lucky; C.J is one of our best," Commander Hunt commented.

"Yeah, I didn't think that the g's would be that harsh. Major Brinkley wants a rematch, this time in a Mobile suit." She was blushing slightly due to her loss.

"I'd like to see that one, too," Hunt said enthusiastically. "Perhaps we should televise the event."

"I heard they had made bets on who would win," Sheen said, curiosity seeping through.

The phone rang, as he picked it up "Hunt here" he paused for a bit "Good, proceed with jump when ready. Hunt out." He placed the phone back in place as he continued

"Yeah, I head that too." He was grimacing at the bet he had lost. Bruce was never going to let him forget it either. He should have had Card Shark as his call-sign instead of Ash.

-

_Mobile Suit Carrier Argama: Bridge – same day_

Amuro Ray was on the bridge talking to Captain Bright as he saw the two newcomers.

The colonial officers saluted. "Lieutenant Jeffery 'Lucifer' Sinclair and Engine Michael 'Sparky' Garibaldi reporting as ordered, sir!"

"Interesting choice of call-sign lieutenant," commented Captain Bright.

"I had similar reactions with other crew from earth sir; in our culture we do not have your religions. Our gods are what in your history would be the Greek/Roman and Egyptian gods. As for why I got my call sign it has to do with the meaning, sir."

"Lucifer means the bringer of light, the morning star, bringer of hope," Bright explaining thoughtfully.

"Yes, sir, it does not have the link with the fallen angel which shares the same name. How I got it is by luck, I saved a few stranded, powerless civilians and they insisted I have the call sign. I bore the call sign out of their respect," Sinclair responded.

"Lt. Sinclair if I may ask, did you two sense anything unusual when you got into proximity of the ship," asked Amuro Ray.

"Now that you mention it, I felt what can best be described as gut feeling, a feeling when you know someone is there. Why?"

"Have you had this feeling before? Any other strange symptoms," Amuro asked.

"No, not really. Is this some kind of disease?" a worried tone form the Lieutenant.

"No," assured Captain Bright quickly.

"You have been complaining about your viper being slow and sluggish lately, though maintenance swears its running optimally," piped up Garibaldi.

"Same as me," said Amuro thoughtfully. "I wonder who awoke them."

"Yeah, ever since meeting Lt Emma Sheen," Sinclair said. "I hope she's not feeling ill."

"She was hot," commented Garibaldi realizing his place. "Excuse me, sirs."

"It's okay, ensign. We are human and it's not as if we are in the middle of battle. As far as Lt. Sheen's appearance, I have no comment," Bright said.

"Married?" whispered Jeff to Amuro getting a nod "That explains it. Don't want your wife to find out you're married but not dead."

Amuro smiled brightly. "Or her killing you in the process."

"Sir, we are receiving okay signals from the fleet. The Axis ships are ready for jump. We have the coordinates for our first FTL jump destination. Another ship is joining the fleet, as it appears they managed to put FTL drives on the La vie en Rose."

"Good, we will have dry-docks in case the FTL fails or we need repairs."

"A mobile dry-dock?" Sinclair asked.

"Yes, we had hoped they would FTL it in time. Apparently they did. We plan on not only using it to repair our ships but help repair and upgrade your ships. No offense, your rail guns are very powerful and could probably kill anything we have out of the sky with one shot, but with a mega particle canon like what we have on the Argama. You could put a hole right through your battlestars, widthwise and still have enough kill power to take out a target on the other side," Bright explained.

"Damn," echoed the voices of the two colonial officers.

Going back to business, Bright ordered, "Helm, prepare to jump on my mark. Comms, signal the fleet to prepare to jump in ten." He continuing ordering, "Fleet orders, jump to FTL on my mark, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Jump!"

_And with that order the small fleet of AEUG, TITAN, and Axis ships FTL jumped out of the system._


	6. Chapter 5 Virgin Road

_Cloud Nine: Baltar's suite - Post-Caprica Rescue Operation, 12 days later_

"Wake up Gaius, I'm bored" Six moaned in his head.

"Bugger off and let me sleep," moaned the sleepy Dr Baltar who went promptly back to sleep proceeding to snore so loudly that Six could have yelled in his ear all day without stirring him.

Six was upset. He had been neglecting her since Carly Caprica came to him and boy did she miss the attention. More then she ever thought possible. She decided a harder shake would wake the sleeping man, so moved her hand to strangle him awake. What shocked her was the grasp of another, firmer hand which took her out of bed. She was promptly put face to face with another Baltar.

"Like the good Gaius said, let him sleep," the other said. " It's not very polite to awaken people like that you know, manners and all that. Or did you loose them after such a long time?"

"It can't be," Six said. "You can't exist"

"Yes dear, I can." He prompted her to put herself in the nearest chair. "Now, sit!"

"You can't stop destiny, this humanity will die and the true path will take place, on Earth."

"I know more then you do," he said in a somewhat childish way. "This is the destiny of man, it will flourish, it will go beyond your wildest dreams and we shall be an echo of a time not realized."

Tears came down six's eyes. "But my family, your family, our family… how can you change it and kill them?"

He held her close "My dear misguided fool. They will be alive, you will see them, when you're born again."

"I will?" she started questioning.

"Yes, I am sure of it. Let us embrace the universe and look forward to our future lives," Baltar said.

"Are you sure they can do it without us?" Six asked.

"They are us as we will be to them. Your single mindedness has blinded you. Open your soul, your heart what do you see?"

"I'm afraid," Six said as she tensed up.

"Were you this afraid when I asked you for your hand in marriage?"

"Yes," she said shyly.

He embraced her as they kissed passionately, light halos enveloping them as Gaius whispered,"You can see it now can't you M'dear." A nod brought the confirmation he needed as they vanished in a blur of light.

Dr. Gias Baltar and Carly Caprica continued sleeping into the afternoon and nothing could wake them.

-

_Colonial Battlestar _Galactica –_ pilot's mess hall same time_

"Well, if this isn't awkward… then I don't know what could be," said Boomer to her counterpart Athena.

"You, galen and Cally having a nice talk?" replied Athena.

"Yeah that would be even more awkward," Boomer admitted. "Congrats on passing the Viper trials and the promotion, by the way."

"Thanks," Athena said quietly.

"Did you know you where a Cylon when you and Karl..." Boomer asked hesitantly.

"Yes, I did," Athena admitted. "He loved me for who I am, no matter what I am."

"Ah, okay. I still don't believe it myself," she said while pacing across the room. "Believe that I was a…robot in disguise."

"Out with it, I know you want to say something," Athena said a bit more harshly then she intended.

"I want my life back, you know. I don't know about another one of me running around," Boomer said. "And Galen….I must be some monster to him. I heard how much I hurt him… and I never wanted to do that to him."

"I may share some of your memories, but trust me, we aren't the same person," Athena said firmly.

"I suppose," Boomer said quietly.

"I take it you were not very sociable ,on Caprica, after your download?"

"No, not especially," she admitted. "I liked being by myself, with the exception of Carly"

"We Cylon are more individualized then people believe. Though some personality traits can be dominant in the same model. I, for instance, would never color my hair like that, nor cut it that short" she said while indicating the dark auburn color and the French haircut Boomer now sported.

"I guess we are like twins, in a way. Sisters. the admiral has let me rejoin the raptor pilots on Galactica," Boomer explained with a shrug.

"Good luck with that…and hope you finally learn how to land properly," Athena said with a slight smirk.

"Funny har har" she groaned.

"I heard about the child, want to talk about it? Sister to sister?" asked Boomer, trying to be supportive.

"No, not particularly," she replied brusquely, brushing the idea off.

"Okay, whenever your ready. I am here for you. It's weird having a sister." She gave Athena an awkward, yet warm hug. " I have to jet, they are sending recons to try and find the Babylonia and her fleet."

-

_Mobile Suit Carrier Radish: Lounge - 12 Days After Initial Contact- rendezvous point._

Commander Hunt's first official visit to the Earth ship was going well.

"Its ironic," commented Hunt pensively.

"What is, sir?" replied his XO; Colonel Williams.

"They didn't have artificial gravity, nor FTL. They can't synthesize food. They're technologically so far behind, yet so far ahead of us. They have yet to step beyond their little pond, yet their industrial might creates habitats that dwarf even our biggest battle stars. I hear they routinely construct fifteen of them a year!!"

"I do like them putting vending machines near the C.I.C. areas, it provides the crew an easy means of getting a drink or a snack," Ash said. "Not sure why we never thought of that idea."

Laughing, Hercules said, "Yeah, I noticed you visited the one they placed in the Babylonia frequently."

"Yeah," he admitted as he looked down at the 16 oz soda cup in his hand. "Mountain Dew is too addicting, they should ban this stuff."

"I wonder how life would have been if we had not met up?" Kevin said.

"Don't go there sir. It all happened for the best," Ash said.

"I remember it like yesterday, us arriving at the Oort to check up on our deep space probe station. Finding the system nuked to hell and occupied," Kevin said. "Like everything we cared about was dust in the wind."

"Yeah, it was a nightmare come true. Lt Sinclair and the others put their lives at risk to try and locate ships stranded in the system," Bruce said. "And I swear if I get my hands on Cain…"

"That was cold hearted and brutal," Kevin said flatly, more than a touch hard. "I mean there might some reason she did it, but the slow death she left them with can not go unpunished."

"And I think everyone in our fleet would want to punish her. Especially Frank Castle on the Impulse," Ash said with a shake of his head.

Hunt thought about the XO on the Impulse. He definitely earned his call sign "The Punisher." Of course, he was even more cold and hard since his family was likely dead. But even now he wouldn't leave people to slowly die like Cain did.

"Sparky and Lucifer are on their way back. I envy them. They get to see Earth in person. The holograms are nice though," Kevin enthused.

"Yeah, I saw them too. The O'Neal cylinder colonies look very comfortable. They even have lakes in them. Can you believe it? Lakes! In space," Ash said.

"Do you think they will have fish?" Kevin asked.

"I read that fishing is a recreation and a sport, Earth side," Ash said. "And that they use those Side lakes as fish hatcheries."

"Nice, we'll be able to take out the 'Boom Sticks' and do some serious fishing," Kevin exclaimed happily.

"I just hope they have herbs and spices for your special fish sauce," Ash said with a hint of amusement.

The two colonial officers relaxed and enjoyed the ambiance brought on by the lounge's artificial environment. Which made them believe that they where situated in a park, orbiting a planet, and that they will get to eventually see Earth.

-

_Mobile Suit Carrier Argama: Outside Quattro Bageena's room - 12 Days After Initial Contact_

A doorbell rang across the room as the occupants slowly stirred. Amuro Ray didn't like to play bellboy, especially to Char, but they had a meeting and he was late.

The door opened revealing a tall, very attractive brunette in hastily donned robe "Is it time for the meeting?" Yawning, Lt. Margaret 'Racetrack' Emington continued, "Sorry, I guess we overslept."

"Umm," the open jawed Amuro said, "I'll tell them your both going to be a little late."

"Thank you," she sleepily replied as she shut the door.

"That was awkward," he commented to himself as he grabbed a passageway handle which propelled him to the elevator where he ran into Roy.

"Lieutenant Ray, sir I could not find Lieutenant Edmington in her room," said a worried Roy.

"Never mind, I found her," he said coolly. "She will be at the meeting shortly, along with the Lieutenant Commander."

"Oh," Roy said as he realized what Amuro had implied. Amuro almost could hear Roy's heart shatter with that one word.

"Yeah," Amuro said.

"Well, good for them," Roy said trying to keep the bitterness out of his tone.

"I suppose." Both entered the elevator, taking them to the level which contained the conference rooms.

"I hear we are one jump from our destination?" Roy commented excitedly. It would fix his heart to give Kara the gift. Of course, some would also think he was trying to commit suicide as well.

"Yeah, we are waiting for the crew to cool down as well as the drives. We aren't machines," Amuro said with a snicker.

"True that," Roy said, replying with a slightly strained grin "good luck with the meeting".

"Thanks, it will be a hoot" replied Amuro, with enough sarcasm to show how he felt about 'meetings'.

-

_Colonial Battlestar _Galactica –_ pilot's briefing room_

"All right, you slackers!" began Lt Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace. "As you all know, we got our little lost lamb back!" As if on cue all eyes glued on to Sharon 'Boomer' Valarie. "So let's give her a proper welcome shall we?"

Sharon clenched up for what she thought would be a hazing at best or at worst a good beating. She closed her eyes, anticipating the worst. A warm hug opened her eyes as her fellow Raptor pilots, one by one, welcomed her back into their group.

"Welcome back, sister In Law!" said Karl 'Helo' Agathon which made her feel more at home then she had ever been.

"That, I will have to get used to" admitted Sharon, who had little experience with family.

"Now for your mission. You're to coordinate with the Raptors on board the Pegasus. Our mission is to find and locate the other Colonial fleet led by the Babylonia," Kara ordered.

"So the rumors are true?" asked Helo.

"Yes they are," she said while pushing a button on her podium, which activated the screens. "As you can clearly see, they are colonial ships."

"What is that small ship in the middle?" asked helo.

"Good question," replied a woman's voice from behind the group. "We don't know."

"D'Anna Biers?" asked one of the pilots a Lt Jg Han 'Solo' Ford as attention drew to the brunette.

"No, though we are the same model," 'Three' said.

"Fraking Cylon," Han's voice rang as he grabbed her put a gun to her head. He just saw red. The destruction of the Colonies went through his mind.

"Let her go, lieutenant," Kara ordered.

"Thanks to her kind, my wife is dead. Our kids-," Han said as tears came to him.

"I am sorry for your loss," 'Three' said carefully.

"You better be sorry, you bitch," Han spat.

"Manners," someone said as a hand pulled the sidearm aside. "Han, you are friends with Boomer right?"

"Yeah," a confused Han.

"People are people Han, Cylon or human, we have to realize that," Helo explained.

Han looked at the cylon female and said, "I am sorry, lady."

"Lisa Hayes," she introduced herself.

"Look, Miss Hayes, I am sorry for reacting that way," Han said. His whole face was taut with worry lines.

"Perfectly understandable, with your loss," she sympathized.

"But don't think I will let my guard down for a minute" Han added coldly.

"As you should, with all relationships there is a period of learning to trust one another," Lisa said as she joined Kara on the podium. "If I may Lieutenant Thrace?"

"Please" said Starbuck with an amusing glimmer in her eye

Schematics of colonial raptors showed up.

"Unfortunately, we could not do a full over haul of the systems without rendering the Raptors unusable for a week, we have come up with an alternative solution," Lisa explained.

Kara already knew what that solution was. She didn't like it and knew no one else was going to either.

"Each one of you will be paired with two Cylon raiders, who will do the long distance FTL jump calculations needed," Kara said.

"How the frack do we know they won't jump us into a planet or another object?" Han asked.

"Good question," piped Lisa raising her hand. "You see this band? It blocks us from downloading to any resurrection ships, similar devices are placed in all Cylon personal."

"What does that mean?" Helo inquired.

"That means that we live and die as one people. And that we don't have extra lives anymore" Lisa said. Which, all in all, was probably better than falling into the clutches of the other faction.

"Ok, gang let's get this over with," said Starbuck ,who hated mushy crap. "If you do not jump back in five minutes the raiders will follow and attempt to find out what happened to you and possibly back you up in case of hostile enemy contact." She paused for effect, adding quickly, "And for frak's sakes people use your friends or foe identifiers, we don't want to kill allied Cylons."

-

_Mobile Suit Carrier Argama:Briefing room – morning_

The door chimed admitting Lt. Commander Bajeena and Lt. Edmington. They found the room packed with a few people representing the various political factions. Several of which were shooting dirty looks at the representatives of the factions they didn't like.

"Thank you for making it to the meeting." commented captain bright wryly. "Please sit."

Margaret was getting all sorts of bad vibes from one of the people sitting at the table, "Who is she?" she whispered to the lieutenant commander.

"Haman Khan," Char whispered quickly.

"Your ex?" Racetrack asked as signs of slight jealousy came about.

"No, not really, she wanted it to be though."he admitted "Meeting is starting" Char stated. It felt odd to him that he could face anyone in combat to the death, yet was afraid of an angry Margaret.

Captain Bright started with, "Ok, ladies and gentlemen, we are one jump from our destination and the rendezvous with the Radish and Babylonia fleet."

"I can't believe I'm dealing with scum like you," spat Captain Bask Om.

"I know that times are taxing and we aren't all exactly best of friends, but you should consider that we are talking about the survival of our race," put in Blex Forer the leader of the AEUG.

"Stop acting like a child," spouted Haman. "I agree with Mr Forer here. These Cylons want us all dead so we have to deal with them first."

"As a colonial representative I also agree with the good gentleman," piped Lt Margaret 'Racetrack' Edmington getting the evil eye from Haman Khan and returning the favor.

A chuckle was heard in the background as Char looked back at Amuro ray. "He is enjoying this!" he thought. "Then again, if it wasn't happening to me, I'd be laughing too."

"Look," said Jeffry 'Lucifer' Sinclair. "We were just as divided as you before the first cylon war. We discovered that it's either our lives or our egos. We chose the later, otherwise we would not be alive now. I suggest you get your acts together."

The meeting continued as preparations where made for the final jump.

-

_Mobile Suit Carrier Argama:Mobile suite Bay – a bit later_

"Hi," Michael 'Sparky' Garebaldi greeted as he entered Roy 'Skulls' Focker's Raptor.

"Hello," replied Roy.

"Wow, things look a little different in here," he stated as he looked at the updated controls.

"Yeah, they had to replace a lot of things. It doesn't have DRADIS anymore, though the functionality is principally the same. The STL engine, computers, interface, even hull armor plating is changed. Though they did paint it the same color." he explained.

"Can I see?"

"Sure." He activated the panel. "The system is a mix of what they call LIDAR, RADAR, Infra Red and Optical scanners." He pressed another button as a fully 3d hologram version of the 2d data appeared in the middle of two pilots chairs.

"Nice, say do they use this for, you know," Garebaldi smirked.

"No, not yet," he replied with a knowing smile "It's still military technology which has yet to go down to the civilian level. I brought enough of the normal stuff though, your welcomed to peruse through them."

"Ohhh, thanks," a great full Garebaldi continued "One of the crew members of the Irish showed me an old earth cartoon called 'duck dodgers'. I really liked it, He gave me copies." changing to a more serious tone "I hear their having a preliminary meeting, before they make the final jump."

"Yeah, I am not one for meetings. Lt. Edmington is attending." admitted Roy "They tend to bore the living frak out of me."

"Same here. Lt. Sinclair is there representing my group."

"So, how fast is she? With the earther engines?" curiosity getting the better of him.

"I was pulling over eight g's last time we tested her, I think we can pull more. She was fully loaded at the time."

"You are Fraking with me, that is faster acceleration then MKII viper!"

"Not at all. It's funny how their technology bases advanced differently yet so complimentary to our own. Ironic, sorta like destiny," mused Roy.

A dizzy almost gut wrenching feeling came onto both of the pilots.

"Looks like we jumped." they observed.

-

_Cloud Nine: Baltar's suite - afternoon_

"Wake up Gaius," Carly as she shook him awake.

"What?" Getting up rather groggily, he asked, "What is it now?"

"There is something wrong with me" Carly said as she panicked.

"What do you mean dear?" he asked as he mentally woke all the way up on a surge of adrenalin. Though he wasn't sure why he called her dear. It did feel oddly…right.

"I can't seem to project!" Carly screamed.

"Project?" Gauis said completely awake and focusing his attention on what she was saying.

"Yes, Cylons are able to project into virtual environments," she stated.

"I'm not an expert on Cylon physiology," Baltar said, "But I might as well see what the problem is. Not like I have a day job or anything to worry about."

_-_

_Mobile Suit Carrier Radish: Lounge – later in the evening._

The door of the lounge swooshed open as an EAUG officer saluted, entering.

"Sirs!", a EAUG office reported, "We are receiving telemetry from the ships, it seems Alpha One has arrived."

"Thank you for the information, Lieutenant," he said to Bruce 'Ash' Williams. "Looks like the cavalry has arrived."

"I wonder if they brought the porn i asked for" wondered the XO.

"Pervert!" commented Kevin.

"I'll share" recouped Bruce.

"Good," laughed Kevin, with Bruce joining him. It had been a long time since the pair had shared such a laughter, they both hoped and prayed for more opportunities.

-

_Clolonial Battlestar Galactica: medlab _

Gaius Baltar looked at the results with disbelief as he handed the blood tests over to Carly who's face showed utter shock.

"By the gods," Baltar muttered. And he thought the conception and birth of a Cylon/human hybrid was unbelievable.

"What does this mean?" asked Carly

"It means exactly what it bloody well means. Unless I got the blood sample from the wrong person, your cellular composition has been radically altered. you're now a full blooded fraking human being. The cells in your body are no longer synthetic but organic." Baltar snapped and then calmed down. "Welcome to the human race. Hope we're not as bad as you used to think."

Tears came down Carly's eyes. "My god" Carly said.

Baltar had so many emotions seeing Carly cry. Satisfaction, pity, sadness and more. He loved her and yet he also hated her for what she did to him. Yet she seemed to have changed and repented for what she did.

But was that enough? Adama and Tigh probably didn't think so. Gauis had no idea if it was or wasn't. He was in the same boat as her to those that knew what really happened.

Unexpectedly Baltar hugged the sobbing Carly, surprising Baltar as much as Carly.


	7. Chapter 6 First Contact

_Colonial Battlestar Babylonia_ –_ CiC -13 days after initial contact_

"I am quite impressed with your ship commodore, I mean commander" Blex Forer complimented.

"She is older them most of the Battlestars that were in service. With the exception of the Galactica. That one is vintage. I am surprised that it was still in service when the Cylons attacked. The Babylonia is a more mass produced later Cylon war variant. That is why we were sent out for exploration duty," Hercules explained.

"The Galactica was being decommissioned when I served on her. You should see the Pegasus, she is a beast," commented Lt Margaret 'Racetrack' Edmington.

"The Mercury class, our latest model. There are a lot of upset people who want to get their hands around Helena Cain's neck for what she did," Commander Hunt said with a tone of anger in his voice.

"Commander Lee Adama is commanding her now sir," answered Margaret.

"What happened to Admiral Cain?" Hunt asked. He was sure it wasn't a peaceful change of officers.

"Dead, shot in the head." answered Racetrack.

"Ouch," commented Blex. "From what I was briefed, she sounds like she would have fit very well with the Titans." He had more than a touch of bitterness in his voice.

"I don't care much for them either," Kevin admitted "Especially after what Dazzler told me about them and their actions, I still don't know about the Zeon, from Axis. They have a peppered past."

"Haman Khan is a smart one, I don't think she would risk Axis or the Zeon's future on such filth," added Lt Commander Quattro, who, as usual was listening and letting the others do the talking.

"Who is Dazzler?" asked Margaret.

"Ah, Lt Emma Sheen. The crew gave her and others in her Mobile Suit Squadron call-signs. It is a colonial tradition and it helped them fit in better," Hercules said with a shrug.

"Captain, your call sign is 'Hercules'? Correct?" asked Blex Forer.

"That's right, sir," replied the commander respectively to the retired admiral.

-

_Colonial Battlestar Galactica_ –_ officers quarters -13 days post caprica rescue_

Helo snuck behind his wife, Sharon, slow like a predator. He grabbed her from behind, turning her body to face him.

"I love you," proceeding to kissed her deeply, he then starting necking her.

"Wow, good kiss," she said, then paused. "But wrong Sharon."

"What?" he replied shocked, freezing stiff, in shock.

"Just kidding," she mocked with a soft grin, then continued kissing him.

"You tease, you!" he laughed.

"It' s not my fault your so gullible" she coyed as the couple continued in their foreplay.

-

_Colonial Raptor_ –_ an hour later_

"That is the oddest thing I have ever seen!" exclaimed Karl 'Helo' Agathon to his Raptor copilot and sister in law Sharon 'Boomer' Valarie.

"What? The colonial colors on the raiders?" Boomer asked.

"Yeah, exactly, it seems out of place," he further explained.

"You know you should keep your hand off the send button," a definitely female voice came over the communication system.

"Umm," Karl said dumbfounded, " Who is that?"

"The raider on your right, genius!" replied the voice sarcastically.

"They can talk now? What the frack? I thought they where like animals/pets," he said to himself, making sure his hand was not on the send button this time. "That's what my wife, your sister Athena said they were. I consider her an authority on that."

"The Cylons kept their intelligence in check, as to not repeat history," she explained. "Now apologize to our wingman!"

"So the Cylons didn't want a repeat our mistakes and have it bite them in their collective asses?" Karl asked. "Damn, whoever their leaders are it make Tigh look like a well mannered and reasonable guy."

"I know," Boomer said with a worried frown.

Pressing on the send button, he said, "I am sorry, miss."

"It's okay, call me Cora," came the reply. "I find the new paint scheme odd, too!"

"You know I think someone should have mentioned the Raiders can talk at the meeting," Karl said looking at Sharon.

"Lisa was going to but…" Sharon said.

"Hey Cora….does Admiral Adama and Apollo know you and the other Raiders can talk?" Karl asked.

"Yes, both Adamas know we're sentient and can talk," Cora said. "And you don't want to know what Tigh's opinion on the matter. By the way. I heard your married to a cylon?"

"Yeah, I married Sharon Valarie." He tried to explaining "Though, not the one that is in this raptor"

"Yeah, I understand you," she replied adding "welcome to the family fly boy!"

"Thanks, I think" taking his hand off the send button "If someone told me that raiders could talk, I'd think they were nuts," Karl muttered.

-

_Colonial Battlestar Babylonia_ –_ Officers briefing room #2 -13 days after initial contact_

The CAG of the Babylonia, Major C. J. "Hoff" Brinkley, with wing leader Lieutenant Emma 'Dazzler' Sheen entered the curiously dark room, noticing the big computer screen lit up with what appeared to be a movie.

"Save the clock tower, save the clock tower," echoed across the room.

"Ohhh, Back To The Future, I love that movie," commented Emma.

"I think we are in the wrong room," declared the Major.

"Close the fraking door," came the voice of the XO Bruce 'Ash' Williams.

"Sorry, sir," came from both of them as they left to go to the proper room.

"It's a good thing we put rank insignias for both militaries on the uniforms, it would be very confusing otherwise," stated Lt Emma Sheen.

"I'm a commander in your ranks, correct?" asked C.J.

"Yes, sir,"came the reply.

"I like the sound of that, Commander Brinkly!"

They both laughed entering the proper room.

-

_Colonial Raptor 13_ –_ 13 days after initial contact._

Lt Margaret 'Racetrack' Edmington in her new Methas did a 360 turn around the Raptor 13, which was being piloted by Roy 'Skulls' Focker.

"Hey, watch the distance," shouted Roy, who was scared out of his wits.

"Stop showing off, lieutenant," ordered Lt Commander Quatrro Bajeena.

"Yes, sir!" piped back Lt. Edington.

"Okay, people, we jump in 5,4,3,2,1 jump!" Char said.

-

_Colonial Raptor deep space – same time._

"DRADIS contact extreme range, 100 clicks out , three boogies, one appears to be a Raptor. The raptor is moving way too fast though" declared Helo.

"Open channels, this is Colonial Raptor, Boomer, speaking!"

"Sharon?" a familiar female voice came over the line

"Racetrack? Is that you? Is Skulls with you?" Boomer asked, joy creeping onto her face.

"You bet your sweet little ass," Skulls replied. Suddenly thinking that through, he blurted out, "Wait, don't tell Helo I said that, god I hope he isn't there."

"I heard that!" Helo said over the intercom.

"Damn" roy cursed "Don't kill me for saying that about your girl friend? Please?"

"Wife you mean?" Helo replied dangerously.

"Holy frak," Roy looked at appoly "I'm so dead"

"Stop teasing poor Roy" Boomers voice Came through the wireless, "I'm not the Boomer who came back from Caprica with Karl. Her call sign is Athena now. I am the original Boomer from Galactica"

"Oh, thank god, wait a minute, shouldn't you be dead?" Roy asked.

"I came back, it's a long story" she tried to explain.

"We have one too," roy said "We found earth!"

"Holy frak!" Helo shouted "Are you kidding me?"

"No, he is not" Remarked Racetrack "Roy, I would advice you stop with the talk of Sol III on wireless" she ordered.

"Sorry sir" Roy Apologized.

Two raiders jumped behind the Raptor, appearing in support positions behind it.

"Holy frak, Cylons," yelled Roy as the Methus fired a wild shot from her mega particle gun, barely missing both raiders, who thankfully evaded the shot.

"Don't fire, they're friendlies," Karl yelled out.

"What? That makes no sense!" Margaret exclaimed.

"We should be in visual range soon," commented Boomer.

"This is Lieutenant Commander Quattro Bajeena. I am the leading this search group. Can you please explain to me why two Cylon raiders are with you, and why they are colored in colonial colors?"

"Hello, tall, gold and sexy!" came a woman's voice. "You like my new colors, I take it? That is one powerful gun your friend has, yours looks much bigger!"

"Holy frak, you're in that robot? It looks different from the footage we got from the Babylonia fleet's battle," blurted out Karl.

"Yes, now explain the Cylons. How do you know about mobile suits and the Babylonia," Quattro said. Pausing, the then added, "Who the hell was hitting on my suit?"

"Hi, I'm Cora, the raider on the right. The shy one is Pixie, she thinks you're DEADLY HOT. I agree," Cora said with a sultry voice.

"Cora, please let us talk to them," ordered Helo, a bit embarrassed.

"Yes, sir," answered Cora in an imitation of a colonial. "Talk to you soon, handsome."

"Well, you see, It started on Caprica, after my death," Boomer started to explain.

-

_Cloud Nine: Baltar's suite - Post-Caprica Rescue Operation, 13 days later_

"I'm afraid, Gaius," Carly whispered while in Gaius's arms.

"Don't be, they won't reject you," he said in an assuring tone.

"I'm a symbol in the eyes of the Cylons."

"So?"

"The idea that a Cylon hero would become human, would divide the Cylon as we know it. Civil war," Carly said.

"Dear I think you're a little late for something like that," Gauis stated sarcastically. "What will one more reason to hate you really mean now?"

-

_Colonial one – a bit later._

Roslin was enjoying a good day. Nothing, had gone wrong, until the phone rang. "Roslin here." She paused to listen to the other side. "Do not frak with me," she said coldly. She listened to the other person. "As in THE EARTH? The thirteenth colony Earth? " she exclaimed, stopping to let them explain. "My gods, I'll shuttle right over to the Galactica."

-

_Mobile Suit Carrier Argama: - 13 Days After Initial Contact._

"They're late," the worried Captain Bright said as he paced back and forth.

"We got word sir, Lieutenant Ray's team was sent to check up on their last position found a message beacon," reported the communications officer.

"Well?"

"Their transmitting the data now, it should be on your display momentarily."

"Okay, getting it now," Bright replied. Reading through the Lt Commander's report, he suddenly stopped. "Forward this to Commander Hunt and get him on the line. Now!"

He picked up his phone "Hello, Commander, yes, I read it too. I say we risk it. With our combined forces, we can take out any Cylon ships even with the two Titans, one Gun Star and the Combat Star we sent to earth for R&D."

-

_Colonial Battlestar Galactica – flight deck -13 days post caprica rescue_

Chief Tyrol was going over raptor thirteen, "What the frak did they do to this raptor?!"

Roy 'skulls' Focker jumped out of the raptor. It felt so good to be back on the 'Bucket'.

"They replaced a lot of the insides, it's much faster now. The armor they have on it is amazing," said Roy.

"Yeah, I can tell! Where is the tylium reactor?" Galen said while trying to find said reactor.

"It's gone," a strangers voice replied "We took it out to study and replaced it with our equivalent".

"What the frak is powering it then?" Galen asked in shock.

"A Minovisky ultra compact fusion reactor," replied the voice.

"You have fusion reactors? That small? Wow!" Noticing the person behind the voice, and the rank he saluted. "Sir, I'm Chief Galen Tyrol, Sir!"

"At ease, chief, I am Lieutenant James 'Rogue' Apolly. Not used to the call sign though," Apolly said.

"You're a pilot, sir?"

"Yes, I don't normally pilot Raptors," he said while chuckling. "I wanted to see how the craft operated and back Ensign Focker."

"What do you, Pilot, if I may ask?" the Chief asked intently. What ship you piloted said a lot about the quality of said pilot.

"A Rick Dias," he replied. Then suddenly remembering that the Chief had no idea what it was, he explained with, " It's a type of mobile suit."

"A mobile what?" Galen asked in perplextion.

"The two robots you have docked in the bay, they are what we call Mobile Suits," Apolly explained.

"Is it true that you're from Earth, sir?" asked a softer voice of petty officer cally.

"Actually, I was born on side three, you can call me Jim" Apolly said.

"'Side' Three?" puzzled Galen.

"It's a designation for a group of orbiting space colonies around Earth," Appoly explained.

"Jim, Galen can you help me with the stuff," Roy asked

"Sure."

"What stuff?" asked the confused chief.

"I brought gifts," Roy said with a large smile. "As they say on Earth, Christmas has come early this year."

Galen just shrugged at the comment. Whatever Christmas was, it involved gifts and that was all he needed to know.

-

_Colonial Battlestar Galactica_ –_ Almira Adama Office -13 days post caprica rescue_

"Welcome back, Lt Edmington," Adama said. "I believe this will make you a hero."

"It's good to be back, sir. This is Lieutenant Commander Quattro Bajeena."

"Lieutenant commander? Pleasure to meet you; we don't have that rank, though I see a colonial rank of captain on your uniform."

"Yes, sir. We did that to avoid the confusion within the ranks," Quattro explained.

"What is your rank system?"

Quattro nodded, continuing his explanation. "We use a variant of the Old Earth naval rank system sir. The non-commissioned and commissioned officers are practically identical to your system until you reach the lieutenant commander, commander, captain and commodore range. Captain being the equivalent of your colonel, who normally commands a ship, and the commander being second in command. Ironically we do have major and colonel in the army ranks. A commodore is a senior ranking captain or a commander in your case."

"Can I be dismissed, I am sure the Lieutenant Commander will be more then enough for the debriefing," Racetrack asked hopefully.

"Sure, go ahead. Dismissed," the admiral ordered.

"Ah, well, Lt commander. I don't know what to say." The door opened up revealing a woman, in a suit.

"Welcome, Madam President," Adama said as he stood.

"Ma'am," echoed the voices of Quattro and Margaret.

"Lt. Edmingone, as I said before you are dismissed," ordered Adama again.

"Sir!" Lt. Edmingont left the room.

"So, you're from Earth?" asked the president

"Earth sphere, yes ma'am," Quattro replied carefully. He had to handle this carefully.

At their puzzled looks, Quattro sighed.

"You have to understand while Earth didn't have FTL travel until we encountered Raptor Thirteen. Our technology has developed differently from your own. We have massive space settlements called Sides…"

-

_Colonial Battlestar Galactica_ –_ Pilots Mess hall _

"Welcome back!!" Starbuck yelled "Miss HERO!" She had a grin on her face. It would be fun to rub in some extra 'hero worship' on the other pilot. It ought to irritate her to no end.

"It's good to be back, umm," replied Racetrack. She stopped and looked around. "Where's Roy?"

"Here!" a voice came from the entrance, as Ensign Roy ' Skulls' Focker entered pushing a cart, full of boxes. He was being helped by another person, who Kara did not recognize. She saw the colonial rank of lieutenant on his outfit, along with another rank insignia she didn't recognize. She frowned as she noticed that Margaret was wearing the same insignia. Chief Tyrol was also with them, as was Petty officer cally.

"What are those insignias?" Han asked.

"Their EAUG ranks, we started wearing them as to not confuse the two forces."

"Ah, what the frack did you guys bring?" asked Kara.

"Gifts, from earth sphere, the big wrapped one is for you sir, so is the smaller pack!" Roy said with a dangerous grin on his face.

"Wow, " she picked it up and put it on the table. "I don't know what to say." She had not thought that they would come bringing gifts. Maybe she had misjudged them both.

"Well? Open it!" ordered Roy, with anticipation in his voice.

Margaret waited in anticipation as Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace unwrapped the case, while noticing the labels on the bottles. Taking out one and reading the information more closely. "You have got to be fraking kidding me? Starbucks Coffee?" She opened it up and took a sip. "Pretty damn good, like myself."

"You want to know what the name refers to?" asked Lt. Appoly.

"Besides my obvious greatness?" Kara preened a bit even as she garnered the laugh she intended.

"It has to do with a work of fiction," he replied, getting the interest of the group. "A novel, called 'Moby Dick'."

"So what does it have to do with Starbuck or coffee?" Hot Dog asked.

"I'm getting to it. Starbuck was a crew member of the ship named the Pequod. The captain, Ahab, was chasing after the great white whale, a fool's dream."

"That is ironically true," thought Kara to herself as earth had initially been a lie.

"We also got a chain of islands called Starbuck islands," added Apolly.

"See! I got not only a kick ass Coffee Beverage named after me, but fraking chain of Islands!" she crowed with a shit-eating grin.

"Wow, she didn't try to kill you," Racetrack exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, like I'm surprised you didn't rip Cora apart with you bare hands after she hit on your boyfriend," Roy said.

"Well, it was just his Mobile Suit and not him she was after," Racetrack said.

"You got a boyfriend?" asked Starbuck. "Way to go! is he hot?"

"Oh yeah," said Boomer entering the room. "Tall, Blond, handsome with baby blue eyes," she said, looking dreamy-eyed. This seemed to bother Galen, but he reminded himself that she is a fraking cylon and not his girl friend anymore.

He looked over to the other Sharon or 'Athena' with Helo, and wondered if he could see past the cylon and be a happy couple, like them. He had also developed feelings for Petty officer Cally. "Life can be really frakked up I guess" he compromised and tried to join in.

"Good catch!" Kara commented.

Roy tried not to look hurt.

"Why don't you open up the other box," hinted Apolly. "And share?"

"What is the other one?" Kara wondered, opening it. Reading the label, she exclaimed, "Smirmov Ice, Vodka? Is this what I think it is?" After getting a nod, Kara took out another bottle and tossed it to him.

"I like you already, Lieutenant!" Kara said with a disarming grin.

"James 'Rogue' Apolly, sir. And thanks" He opened the bottle and took a sip.

She opened the bottle in the same manner and took a deep gulp of the bottle.

"Woo-haw! That hit the spot!" she whooped out, wiping her mouth clean of liquid she said "You guys make good synthetics!"

"We don't have synthetic food," Apolly said. That had been a bit surprising when he found that out.

"They don't have the technology to make them," explained Margaret.

"The real stuff? Sweet, what else did you bring?"

"Chocolate, snacks and more booze. They have so many varieties of both it's scary. A few clothes, videos with players."

Hearing the moaning noises, Roy begged, "Hot Dog, could you watch the porn later, please?"

The room filled with laughter as food and drink was equally distributed and Lt. Edmington set up a projection device. "I brought pictures, of the Moon, Anaheim and also our Colony."

The slide show began, as the group of pilots saw pictures of Anaheim Electronics, Mobile suits, Von Bruan City, the Earth and what will be their future home, the Colony batches designated as 'New Caprica' and 'New Aerelon'.

A tear came to Starbuck's Eye as she saw the sun set from the O'Neill cylinder, now called New Caprica.

"Hi, I'm James," Lt Apolly said to the Hot Asian auburn haired woman.

"Hi, I'm Sharon."

"Sorry to seem, forward, but do you have a boy friend?" he asked.

"No, not anymore," she said looking to Galen. He had Cally now, it seemed. She started blushing. "I want to warn you though, I'm a Cylon."

"So?"Apolly responded.

"You mean you don't care?"

"Not really, you are a person, like everyone else. You can think; you have feelings do you not?" Apolly asked.

"Yes, I do," Boomer said with conviction.

"Then there you have it," he said. "Cylon, or human, you are a beautiful woman who I would like to date," he explained while holding his hand out.

"Why, thank you!" Boomer thought that if most of the people from Earth Sphere where this accepting, maybe their dream of peaceful coexistence is not as futile as the others seemed to believe.

-

_Colonial Battlestar Galactica_ –_ Admiral Adama's Office_

"Those guns of yours, they are very powerful," commented Adama, who had shown the Lt Commander the footage they had gotten of the brief battle in the colonial system. Carly Caprica and Dr. Baltar had been asked to join the meeting and had arrived and were present.

"Their called 'Mega particle Cannons' sir. Our Mobile suits, as you saw carry smaller variants called a 'Mega particle Gun'. The cannons on the Radish are roughly ten times as powerful as the guns carried by our Mobile Suits."

"So, why did you go to the colonies first and not us?" asked the president.

"Quiet frankly, we were in the middle of a small war. The encounter with your raptor put that to a screeching halt. We wanted to confirm their story and happened to meet up with the Babylonia and her group. Call it Serendipity, if you will."

"One ship?" asked the admiral.

"No two, the first one stayed behind so that final preparations could be made to leave. They also have quiet a few civilian ships. Some who had gone silent during the attack others who where abandoned by a ship called the Pegasus."

"Thank the gods, they are safe," echoed Adama and Roslin in sync.

"Yes, thankfully, their perfectly fine. We thoroughly checked them for Cylon infiltrators before we allowed a few of them to go to Earth."

"You can detect cylons? How?" asked Carly

"We tested for genetic anomalies, specifically in the midocondrial RNA, which is inherited maternally, and specific to humans."

"Why didn't I think of that," Baltar said wonderingly. It seemed so clear now. Of course, Baltar mused that almost everything seemed clear in hindsight. And it wasn't like genetics was his specialty.

"We believe that your population and ours at one time, inhabited the Earth, and you where taken from it."

"But the scriptures clearly say, we are from Kobol, and the thirteenth tribe migrated to Earth," president Roseline said in objection.

"We have evidence which clearly shows we evolved on Earth. Genetic markers across several of the species on the planet. We are also over ninety percent genetically identical to several species of primates on Earth," Quattro stated as a fact. "There is also fossil evidence as well."

"My gods, could we have been wrong?"

-

_Colonial Battlestar Pegasus_ –_ Cic same time_

"DRADIS contact, large fleet," reported the tactical officer.

"I see it," replied Commander Lee Adama.

"Can you identify them?"

"Yes sir, one is definitely the 'Babylonia'. Frak me they got two War Stars, one Combat Star a Gunstar and two Titans. It's a support fleet, sir. Also a ton of civies. Including a number of foreign ships."

A smile came on the commander's face.

"Holy frack sir, one of them is two kilometers long!" as a huge ship jumped in.

"Get me the admiral on wireless!" Lee ordered.

-

_Colonial Battlestar Galactica_ –_ Admiral Adama's Office_

"Yes, they where expected," Admiral Adama said, pausing for his son Lee to say something. "Yeah, the big sucker, the Lieutenant commander," he stopped and thought quickly, then amending to Colonial ranks to not confuse lee, "I mean the captain here said that it's a supply ship. Yes, you can contact them. I'm in the middle of a meeting." He paused to list again. "Okay, we will meet on the 'beast', Galactica Actual out."

"Supplies?"

"Yes, we brought all essentials, food, medication, even clothing."

"Thank you," said president Roslin who could not think very clearly, due to the suddenness of it all. "Do you have women's suits."

"We did bring civilian clothing, it can be tailored for you. We had specifications of your uniforms, which we brought a good amount in various sizes," Quattro said.

"We are also short of doctors," piped up Baltar.

"Yes, we have medical personal both from the Babylonia fleet and Earth Sphere," Quattro stated.

"Can you explain to use, what you mean by Earth Sphere?" Adama asked.

Handing Adama a Colonial style data disk, Quattro started explaining. "Please put that data disk in your computer." A map of a solar system showed up on the screen on the wall. "Press the play button please." The map animated itself showing the orbits, then reverted to a 2d map with areas highlighted.

Lt. Quatrro took out a pen, which appeared to emit a laser and served to function as a pointer.

"Earth is here. The third planet from our sun. Our solar system has eight regular planets, three dwarf planets and over one hundred and planetoids or moons."

"Lots of living space!" commented the president.

"Most of our population lives in space, instead of on Earth. The zones are Earth and Jupiter. Earth Sphere houses the majority of the population with sixteen billion, Jupiter has roughly five hundred million or so." He pointed to the gas giant, which was labeled as the 5th planetoid. "If you could press the next button sir", Quattro asked.

The camera zoomed into the Earth and showed what appeared to be space stations orbiting the planet at specific points.

"Liberation points?" Adama noted.

"Yes, we call then La Grange points, it's amusing that your language is so similar to English," he said while shrugging it off. He continued, "Each Side is a group of Island three colonies cylinders are paired ballistically in what we called a bunch." Adama taking the point, clicked on the next button.

A camera showed several views from inside the colony, including the agricultural areas, which where attached to the hull of the massive station.

"Each colony cylinder, a third generation variety is forty kilometers long and eight kilometers in diameter, each providing roughly over five hundred square kilometers of habitable space, which includes lakes and rivers. "

A couple of 'frak me's' and 'wows' made him pause.

"As you can see, the cylinder generates it's gravity through centripetal force. The colony gets its power primarily from the solar arrays. The Agricultural Ring is made to simulate the various seasons. This way the colony can grow all kinds of produce all year around, unlike in most regions on a planet."

"This is very impressive, but why show us?" asked Admiral Adama.

"These two colonies, are yours, sir, once we are able to safely escort you to Earth Sphere. Their name designations are 'New Caprica' and 'New Aerelon', respectively."

"Why can't we go now?" asked Baltar.

"While we were in a war state, it was not very wide spread. We still lack the numbers we used to and we want to bolster our defenses before opening our doorway to a possible hostile invasion."

"He is right, the location of Earth should not be divulged to anyone until they can establish its security," Carly admitted.

"I don't know how our people will thank you! Those stations seem awfully expensive," said the president.

"They are, though we manage to make fifteen of them on a yearly basis," he replied.

"You mean you can make fifteen of those fraking monsters a year?" asked Tigh who had been unusually quiet since his arrival.

"Yes and you already have paid us Madam President. We lacked FTL, artificial gravity and a few other things, before contact," Char said. "Besides, in the Earth Sphere we have a concept called 'humanitarian aid'. It means we help the needy, no matter who they might be."

"That is a noble thing," commented Carly softly.

"It seems Cylons and Humans can agree on matters," smiled the president.

The phone rang. "Adama here," he said after he picked it up. "Pleasure is all mine Captain Bright. He is right here, I'll hand the phone over."

Quattro picked up the phone. "Sir! Yes, sir! Of course, sir," he said.

"I thought he is a captain as well?" asked Roseline while the

"He is a lieutenant commander or the same rank as our captains. Their military is different. Their captains have the same rank as our colonels."

"Ahhh," she said, trying to attempt to understand.

"Very good, sir. I'll inform them. Thank you, sir," Quattro said. Then he gave the phone back to the Admiral.

"Okay, what is the news, soldier?"

"They have contacted our headquarters on the Moon. A second supply ship will arrive in a day."

"Wait a minute? How did you contact earth so quickly?" Roslin asked.

"Our little secret," he said as he chuckled. "Since we never had a need for a faster then light communication device before, we had never developed one. Dr. Minovisky apparently has found a way to do it using his famous Minovisky particles. We brought a few of the transmitters and receivers on our ships. They are still in the experimental stage, though they appear to work."

"Real time faster then light communication? That is amazing," Carly stated.

Quattro found it very odd that the Colonials didn't develop some form of FTL communications. It was a very logical thing to have if you were going to expand beyond your solar system.

"This Dr. Minovisky must be very brilliant," Adama commented.

"Yes, sir, he is. He is the reason for our particle weapons, our ultra compact helium three fusion reactors which power our Mobile Suits. The giant robots, as you call them."

"Helium three, deuterium fusion is great source of power if you can manage the temperatures. It is a clean fusion, which means it does not produce neutrons nor neutrinos as a by product. It also produces electricity directly unlike the tylium reactors we currently employ. Tylium reactors are dirt cheap to make and maintain, in comparison. If you had a proper containment, you would produce the electricity of a normal fusion reactor five times its size. Our current tylium reactors are only eighty four percent as effective as a fusion reactor, let alone a direct current producing fusion based one," stated Baltar, obviously impressed.

"Our meeting with the senior Earth Sphere official is scheduled for tomorrow morning on the Pegasus. May the gods protect us," stated Admiral Adama in closing.

"I am not a very religious man, nor do I believe in pure luck. If God is up there, as others claim, I have yet to see a bigger sign. Through your plight and how you survived despite the odds. It does give me hope that there is a god, and that God is with us," Quattro finished.

"Wait a minute." It dawned upon Carly what he was saying. "You said God, not gods?"

"Yes, the majority of the religions on earth believe in the one true God, as they phrase it. They refer to god with different names but essentially it is the same god."

Tears came down Carly's eyes as she said, "We believe in one true god as well."

"You're a Cylon, correct?" Quattro asked, having noted the subtle looks she had been getting from the colonials.

"Yes," she admitted.

"Was," Baltar corrected absently as he was still thinking over the implications of the Earth's technology.

"Was?" came the chorus of the Colonial voices in union.

"Don't!" she pleaded. "The damage it can cause."

Baltar shot Carly a look that clearly said, 'A bit late for that isn't it dear?'

"Here," he placed the file on the desk. "Read, compare it to the earlier tests."

Adama opened the file as Roslin peaked behind him, they looked at the data ,then at Carly in disbelief.

"Is this true?!" the shocked Adama asked.

"This changes everything," expressed Roslin, who was in as much shock as the admiral.

"I know," Baltar said. "And Carly seems to think it will cause a Cylon Civil War…which she has already started anyway."

She glared at him for a moment. She might love him, but he could be such an ass.

-

_Colonial Battlestar Galactica_ –_ Pilots Mess hall _

"Quiet, everyone listen!" Getting pissed, the now very drunk Kara yelled, "Listen up, you frakers!"

This put a silence across the room.

"The Babylonia and the Earth Fleet are here! Or were here about an hour ago, I think," she said to cheers echoed across the room.

"Hey, athena, have you seen your sister Boomer?" Roy asked.

"Not recently, she was talking to Lieutenant Apolly though. They seemed to hit it off pretty well." she replied

"Fraking hell!"

"Don't worry, you will find the right gal eventually." racetrack comforted, who was listening in.

"Damn, I feel like John Crichton though," Roy said.

"Who?" Racetrack asked.

"Fictional character that got lost in a wormhole and tried to get back to Earth," Roy explained. "Kou and Keith showed it to me. It's were they got frell from. I feel as lost and unable to find a woman as John did some times."

"That's rough… and deep," hotdog commented.

"Of course, I'd rather be like Coop from Megas XLR," Roy said with a huge grin. "Piloting a giant robot and kicking ass. And maybe have that Fa as the useless sidekick… given I heard she drives as well as Colonel Tigh avoids the bottle."

_Colonial Battlestar Galactic_a _– Dr Cottle's later that evening _

The doctor was patching up Roy's lip.

"How in the hell did you get these injuries?" noting the broken rib bone and several other bruises.

"well" he mumbled with a swollen lip, thanking the gods his jaw had not broken, "Lt Commander Bajeena entered the party"

_Colonial Battlestar Galactica_ –_ Pilots Mess hall _

Margerate noticed that lieutenant commander Quattro Bajeena enter the hall, and motioned to him."over Here"

"sound like a big party" observed Quattro.

"Yeah, they are celebrating our safe return, and earth. Here" handing him a drink.

"Thanks,"

"Watch out!! Here I come!!!" a loud voice yelled as a dirty blond woman jumped the table in front of them. She passed out for a few seconds then got up with a crazy look in her face.

"Hey, is that your guy? Damn he is FINE!"

"umm" the poor margerate.

"I take it she is coffee girl? Starbuck? The name really fits." innocently asked Quattro.

This caused Margrate to start an uncontrollable giggle, which caught on faster then the black plague with only Quattro keeping his cool. Starbuck however was also laughing until in her drunken state she came to the realization of what this meant to her, and her attention focused on Roy. Her laughter turned into a raging bull's pose and Roy braced for what was about to happen.

"Roy! You fraker" was what he heard before he lost his consciousness.

_Colonial Battlestar Galactic_a _– Dr Cottle's _

"ouch." doctor Cottle remarked.

"Yeah, now i know how Ketaro on Love Hina feels,"

"what are you talking about?" The doctor asked.

"Never mind" Roy responded.

"Lay back down on the bed,"motioning "and get some rest."

"Yes sir" Roy blurted out as he rested his eyes and laid back. The drugs taking effect put him into a deep sleep.


End file.
